Mario & Luigi: Four for everyone
by Dreaming Creator
Summary: Just when Starlow and Dreambert vacation in Mushroom Kingdom, a new, unknown threat tries to conquer the kingdom. They need to team up with the Mario Bros. in order to stop their most dangerous enemy yet: another human. Rated T, because weapons (although not deadly or something like that) and fights are part of this story.
1. Prolugue: Not all humans are nice

**Here I am, with a new story in mind. After writing "The Star Sprite that became happy", I felt the need to write a story I always wanted to happen. What that is? Go and read ahead.**

 **Important facts: This is the Mushroom Kingdom from M &L: BiS, because I like it the most. This story takes place about three months after "The Star Sprite that became happy", which means that Starlow and Dreambert are a couple.**

 **This chapter is like an opening scene (remember the one from BiS? This is a bit like it).**

 **Let the prologue begin!**

* * *

It was a normal day in Toad Town. People went shopping, were working or simply enjoyed the nice weather. It shouldn´t stay a normal day, however. In Toad Town, there was a building that didn´t look like the other ones. It wasn´t a mushroom-shaped house, but more like a house we would know: two floors plus a basement, squared, and painted blue.

In said house lived a person that was not like the other ones. Not a Toad, but a human. Nobody knew when exactly he moved here, but he lived here for quite some time now. Almost everyone forgot about him, until they met that guy again. He wasn´t seen outside of his house very often, and when he left it, he went shopping in the super market to buy food and something to drink.

He wasn´t rude to anyone, and just polite enough to greet someone who greeted him. Nobody knew anything about him. Except for his name. But that was not his real name. It was only the name he used for his stay in Mushroom Kingdom. While he was in Beanbean Kingdom, everyone thought his name was Freddy Jackson. During his stay on Pi'illo Island, he used the fake name John Smith. **(I made these up by myself! All similarities to real names are coincedence)**

In Mushroom Kingdom, he was known as Dreaming Creator. He didn´t know why he chose that name, but it some sort of described him: He created something, and wanted to create more. And he had a dream. To achieve what everyone before him couldn´t do: conquer Mushroom Kingdom. And two guys were standing in his way. They had defended two kingdoms and an island, thanks to their fighting skill and friends.

They were known as Mario and Luigi, heroes of Mushroom Kingdom, brothers, and fighters for the right thing. He had to get rid of them. They might not be able to keep up with his power, but you never knew what tricks they got up their sleeves. And he had to remember that Bowser might turn into a problem as well. Fawful failed because the Koopa King decided to stop him, so he had to take care of him as well. But it wouldn´t be much of a problem. He had a plan.

He would show them. He wouldn´t be a nothing anymore. They would have to pay him respect after he achieved his goal. Couldn´t he just revenge himself by showing them his powers? To demonstrate what he could do to them? He would show them what they had DONE to him. What THEY had done to him. WHAT they had done.

No…he had to EARN the respect he desired. And conquering a kingdom should be more than enough. "Stay calm," he thought, "today will be the day. I will do it".

He activated his earpiece and dialled the "Leading-Frequency". Soon, a familiar voice sounded.

"What is your desire, Master?" it asked.

"I think we are ready to launch 'Plan N', Nicbot," he answered.

"I understand. I will send the troops towards BC on your signal. The other two will be informed. Nicbot out," it replied and ended the conversation.

"Perfect. Now all I have to do is to get their attention. I hope my powers are still there, or this will turn into a disaster. I haven´t observed Mario and Luigi on their adventures for more than five years, just to fail at the very start," he thought and got up from his computer. It showed a map of Mushroom Kingdom, as well as an overview of his arsenal. He left the basement.

After getting into his blue jacket, he put one of his more important devices on his back. It looked like a blue, metallic backpack. In fact, that was one of the functions: being a blue, metallic backpack. But not the only one, as the others would soon discover.

He opened the door and stepped out of his house. There weren´t many Toads around, because it was early in the morning. He closed the door and locked it, as well as activating the house´s security system. A Toad walking behind a house got his attention, and he silently followed him.

Nobody was back there except the two of them. "Perfect. Now for the final check," he thought and snuck up to the Toad. When he was a few feet behind him, he stretched his right hand out and pointed it towards the Toad. A dark blue lightning bolt came from above him and struck the Toad, causing him to instantly stop in his movements.

"What is going on? Why can´t I move?" the Toad cried.

"Excellent. Now for the second half…" he thought and stepped into the view of the stunned Toad.

"I think that is because of me," he told him and started laughing. "I can understand that this feels weird for you, so I´ll free you…by sending you to the world of unconsciousness!"

"Wait, is that you, DC?" the frightened Toad asked in disbelief.

He raised his hand again, and a light blue sphere appeared in it. "The days of Dreaming Creator are over. Now everyone will get to know me as the person I really am. Everyone in this kingdom, which will soon be mine, will know the new ruler of it: Nico," Nico said and fired the sphere, which sent the Toad unconscious the second it hit him.

"You won´t be able to stop me, Mario Bros.," he said and looked towards Peach´s Castle. "I only need to cause enough chaos, just to disappear after I got their attention. They should call in an emergency meeting, and I am sure that HE will be there as well."

Nico activated the most important feature of his device: two thrusters came out of it and started, making him hover above the ground.

"The 'Jetback' is one of my greatest inventions," he thought with a grin and floated towards the central place of Toad Town.

"Time for my dream to come true! Feel the power of Nico, pathetic beings!" he shouted at the Toads and fired stunning lightning bolts and his energy spheres at them, letting a few of them run away on purpose. The rest got either stunned or became unconscious. Someone had to report what just happened, right?

He then flew higher and started to float towards Peach´s Castle. There, he landed in the back of it. "Cameras," he said, and the backpack opened itself. A little device with a screen on it got pulled out by a robotic arm, which handed it towards him.

He sat down and booted the system up. He switched between several spy cameras he installed a few months ago. He took out some headphones from his pocket and plugged them in, so he could listen to the audio. He only put it into one ear, since he was wearing his earpiece in the other one.

What he heard made him smile. Nico hasn´t been happy for a long time, but the things he heard created this feeling. Everything was going like he planned.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it. It has always been my dream to become the main villain in a series like "Mario & Luigi". Now that I´ve started writing, I can put myself as the main villain into my own story! Yay!**

 **Yes, Nico is my real name. I didn´t want to call myself "Dreaming Creator" or "DC" every time in this story, so I figured that it wouldn´t harm me if I revealed my first name. Since you don´t know my full name, it isn´t a problem at all.**

 **I used OC as a character here, because it is the closest to Self-Input. And of course, I have a different personality; I´d never try to conquer a country or something like that…I think…**

 **As always: Stay tuned for the next chapter, and review if you want to!**


	2. Meeting again, fighting again

**Time for everyone else to show up. Describing a fight could be difficult for me, but I´ll try my very best. The four main protagonists will appear now, as well as some guys you are probably not expecting to be here.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Starlow and Dreambert were at Mario´s and Luigi´s house. It had been three months since they parted, because Starlow fell in love with Dreambert and wanted to stay on Pi'illo Island. She was lucky that he shared her feelings, and they soon became a couple. They payed Mushroom Kingdom a visit for two weeks.

They were eating spaghetti with the Bros. and talked about everything they experienced since Mario and Luigi returned to Mushroom Kingdom. When Luigi was about to tell them about a serious pipe problem they fixed, a Toad ran into the house and almost collided with the table.

He was panting, and managed to say "Emergency meeting…Peach´s Castle…"

"What?" Starlow exclaimed, "Come on, guys. Let's go to the castle"

They hurried out of the house and made their way to the castle, where Toadbert waited for them. When he saw them approaching, he walked towards them.

"I´m glad that you are here. The kingdom might be in some serious trouble, and we will need your help," he said after they reached him.

They walked inside the castle, where some Toads were running around, almost everyone holding sheets of paper. Dreambert remembered that there were nearly no Toads in Toad Town when they passed through it. They couldn´t all be here, because it´d be way more crowded then.

"Where are all the Toads?" he asked Toadbert.

"We´ll explain everything in the meeting. I hope that Bowser follows the invitation as well…" he answered.

"You invited BOWSER?" Mario shouted, and Toadbert almost jumped onto another Toad. "Do you remember what happened the last time he came here for a meeting?"

"I do, but he invited himself back then. I am sure that if he gets an invitation, he´ll see how serious we are about this," he justified their actions.

"Maybe...but Luigi and I will be ready to fight. Right, Luigi?" he replied.

"Oh…yeah, sure," the green plumber answered.

"There will be no need to fight," a voice behind them said. They turned around to see Private Goomp, Corporal Paraplonk and Sergeant Guy walking towards them. They wore their Elite Trio outfits, which meant that Bowser must have promoted them again. It didn´t surprise them that much, because these three were able to put up a tough fight.

"His greatness has received your invitation and came here as quickly as he could. He will enter the castle in a few moments," Sergeant Guy announced.

Right after he said that, stomping could be heard. Bowser entered the room, trying not to look like he wants to harm anyone. As soon as he saw Mario and Luigi, however, he became angered. The only thing that held him back from engaging them was the fact that there might be someone out there who could try to conquer the kingdom HE wanted to conquer.

"We will fight at a different time, plumbers. We will form an alliance like that time we travelled to Beanbean Kingdom, just a bit more successful," he told them.

They relaxed, and everyone was glad that this first phase went by peacefully. "Would you please follow me into the Meeting Room? Princess Peach is waiting for us," Toadbert said and walked deeper into the castle.

They followed him and entered the Meeting Room, where Peach, Toadiko, a few Toads and Toadsworth were busy analysing some papers. As soon as the nine of them entered, they stopped and walked on their positions: Peach towards the podium, and everyone else to the table.

"Welcome, everyone. I am glad that all of you came here. This includes you, Bowser," she greeted them.

The Koopa King clearly didn´t know how he should react, because he has always been treated as an enemy ( **I wonder why…** ). "Umm…yes, thank you. Kamek suggested me to go here after that bird delivered your message, so I followed his advice," he replied.

They saw Dr. Toadley´s intern standing at the table as well, which made them wonder why she was there. Everyone gathered around the table, and Peach started talking.

"All of this might be confusing for everyone who just joined us, so I will explain everything. This morning in Toad Town, someone, apparently a human, created chaos by stunning Toads, as well as knocking them out. He seems to be able to perform some sort of magic, as he summoned lightning bolts to stun them and created energy spheres in his hands to knock them out," she started.

"We have been taking care of the victims, and it looks like these effects wear off after some time," the intern added.

"He lived in Toad Town for some years now. We contacted Beanbean Kingdom and Pi'illo Island for information, and we found out that he moved to these locations shortly after Mario and Luigi went there. He used fake names to hide himself, but the descriptions leave no doubt that this is the same person," Toadiko continued.

"He is known as 'Dreaming Creator' in Mushroom Kingdom, but that seems to be a fake name as well. The Toads that managed to escape reported that he called himself 'Nico'. Besides being able to perform magic, he also seems to be a technician. He used some sort of jetpack to perform his actions," Toadbert ended.

"Do we know where he is now?" Starlow asked.

"Sadly, no. He left Toad Town into an unknown direction," Toadiko replied.

"The way you describe him reminds me of a combination between Cackletta and Fawful. Are you sure that it wasn´t Fawful with a bit of dark powers left in him?" Luigi asked.

"He is definitely a human, so that is not possible. The point is that you need to stop him. Someone with these powers as well as advanced technology is a dangerous foe," Toadbert answered.

"If we have to stop whatever he tries to do, we need to know where he currently is," Bowser said.

"You won´t need to look very far in order to find me," a voice behind them said. They all whirled around, and saw someone walking into the room. He was a human, and wore round glasses. He had brown, short hair and was at a size between Mario and Luigi. He wore a blue jacket and jeans, as well as black and blue coloured shoes. What stood out on him was his age. He couldn´t be older than seventeen, which surprised them the most. They also spotted the backpack-like thing on his back, which was coloured blue and looked like it was made out of metal. They assumed that he favoured the colour blue.

"So everyone is here. Perfect. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nico. And I am going to be the new ruler of this kingdom. I´ll give you one chance to declare me your new superior, without more people getting harmed. I only used my powers in Toad Town to get your attention, and now you are here. Will you make me the new ruler, or do I need to force you?" he continued with a smug smile.

Mario and Luigi ran towards him and took battle stance, as well as Bowser and the Elite Trio. Starlow scooted behind them, ready to assist them in battle.

"Hand this kingdom to a teenager? What comes next, pigs raining from the sky? Give up, kid. You don´t stand a chance against us," Bowser said and laughed.

"I guess that means that I need to force you…" Nico replied. He said "Stasis", and the backpack on his back revealed some sort of energy gun. It fired at the Elite Trio and created a force field around them, preventing them from moving around any further.

The other ones were surprised for a brief moment, but then charged at him. As Mario was about to jump on him, Nico activated the thrusters of his "Jetback" and flew up into the air. Nobody was able to reach him.

"If you really want to fight, then I´ll allow you to fight. You won´t be fighting ME, however," he said with a grin. After that, he drew out a ray gun from his jacket´s pocket. He must have had a lot of training, because it didn´t take him a second to aim and shoot. It created an orange beam, which struck Bowser. He stood still after it hit him.

"Bowser! You came here in order to steal the princess. But Mario and Luigi are here to stop you. Show them what you´ve got and beat them up!" Nico ordered him.

The Koopa King faced them, looking angry. "Oh no! He must be under mind-control," Starlow realised. There seemed to be no way to avoid the fight with Bowser, so Mario and Luigi prepared for battle.

"This will be entertaining," Nico laughed. They engaged Bowser.

They both jumped onto the Koopa King´s head, but it didn´t bother him much. He hid into his shell after they landed on the floor, and started spinning into their direction. Luigi knocked him back with his hammer, but Bowser bounced off a wall and came back, still in his shell. This time, Mario hit him away, with the same result. They continued this way, and cracks started to appear on the wall Bowser hit. If they were able to knock him into it a few more times, it might break and end his attack.

That was when Luigi swung his hammer the wrong time, and Bowser collided with him. The impact sent the green plumber flying into the opposite wall, hurting him badly. He was still able to fight, though.

"Luigi! Catch!" the intern yelled and threw a Mushroom at him. He managed to catch it and ate the item. He felt better and ran back towards the fight, where Mario was hitting Bowser, who left his shell again, over and over again with his hammer. Their opponent managed to grab the hammer, and Mario was able to let the hammer go before it got tossed away.

Bowser then leaned back, and Starlow quickly hovered towards the brothers. "You know how this goes. Quick!" she told them and started flying in a circle above them. They managed to hold onto her, and she flew upwards, just in time before a stream of fire toasted the place they were standing at. Starlow then hovered above Bowser, and Mario and Luigi performed a stomping combo onto the head of their foe.

He staggered for a short moment, but then regained his balance. He jumped off the ground and stomped onto it, causing a mini-earthquake. They were not prepared for that, and lost their balance due to the shaking. Bowser used this to his advantage and punched Mario, knocking him away and leaving him to fall on the ground. He was able to stand up again, but the hit seriously hurt him.

The intern threw another Mushroom at him, but this time, Nico intervened and caught it mid-air. He flew towards Bowser and handed it to him. The Koopa King ate it, restoring some of his health in the progress.

"Oh, come on! Are you serious?" Dreambert shouted.

"If she helps them, I´ll help my fighter as well. I don´t care if it is fair or not," Nico said and increased the altitude he was flying at again.

Luigi, in the meantime, prepared a green shell and waited for his brother. After Mario showed him that he was ready, they kicked the shell into Bowser over and over again. After several hits, the Koopa King lost his balance and landed on his rear. Mario ran towards his hammer and picked it up again. They then simultaneously hit Bowser´s head with their hammers, defeating him with this attack. He fainted, and the brothers got to catch their breath again.

They then heard someone applauding. Looking up, they saw Nico clapping, with a grin on his face. "A great performance. I had hope that he would defeat you, but this works as well," he said.

Mario and Luigi still were hurt and wouldn´t be able to fight an enemy like him now. He didn´t intend to fight them, anyways. He just lifted his hands, and two lightning bolts struck them, immobilizing them.

"That settles that, I guess," he told them and landed. He looked at Princess Peach, who was clearly shocked at what just happened. "Princess Peach, it seems like your fighters are not in operating order. Give me control over this kingdom, and no more people shall be harmed," he said with a patient smile.

* * *

 **This looks bad. Mario, Luigi, Bowser and the Elite Trio are unable to fight. Is there still hope?**

 **I know that I am mean, but I´ll leave this chapter here. I intended to involve another fight in here, but I think that this chapter would have been too long then. But don´t worry: holidays just started for me, which means that I can write a new chapter pretty soon.**

 **I´m interested in your opinions on this story, so as always: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	3. We can fight as well!

**I am the author, Madz. And by that, I am the most dangerous enemy in my own stories. But nobody is flawless. I still need some sort of weakness, otherwise it´d be boring because you´d know that I will win, regardless of the effort put into stopping me. I am constantly rethinking the middle part of the plot, but I already know how everything will end. Nobody will see that coming, I can guarantee you that.**

 **A very interesting review. And no, that didn´t go too far. What is the slogan of this website again? "Unleash your imagination". You can´t go too far (you still have to follow the rules, though). I think that would be a cool story as well. You could use Madz´s Sickie Thoughts to your own advantage, for example…go and write that now, Madz! I want to see that happen!**

 **Anyways, back to the story. Enjoy!**

* * *

"I…," Peach started, but was interrupted by Starlow, who flew next to her and starred at Nico.

"We will never give this kingdom up! The bad guys always loose, and Mario and Luigi WILL find a way to stop you!" she shouted at him. Dreambert joined her, and they both tried to stare him down.

Nico seemed a little surprised at the angry Star Sprite, but then created two light blue energy spheres in his hands. He threw them at the Bros., who got knocked out by them.

"Excuse me, could you repeat that, please? I didn´t hear what you said in the end," he told her with a grin.

She was shocked, but didn´t give up. Maybe she could force him into making a mistake by taunting him…

"Wow, I´m impressed. You managed to stop three guys with your gear, let someone else fight Bowser for you and then defeated them when they were weakened. I am RELLY impressed, you are such a TOUGH guy!" she said with the best sarcastic voice she could bring up.

"I´d call it strategy, but whatever. This is your last chance: surrender now, or I´ll forget about being diplomatic and show you what I am capable of," he warned them.

"Never! We will defend it until one of both sides goes down!" she challenged him.

"You are bold, I´ll give you that. But foolish as well. I´m busy, however, so I´ll let one of my minions take care of you. Maybe you´ll change your mind then, princess," he told them. He activated his earpiece and said "Unit 17, come here. Take Starlow and Dreambert out".

He placed a little metal ball on the ground and said "I will call you on this device in exactly fifteen minutes. You will tell me if you want to surrender or not. If you want to try to fight against me, you will be VERY sorry."

Nico created another sphere in his hands, but this time, it was red. He threw it at a wall, and the orb shattered it into pieces. He activated his thrusters and flew out of the hole.

"Unit 17? What does he mean by that?" Dreambert asked.

Right after he said that, a robot flew through the hole Nico created. It had two legs and arms, but the faceplate of it looked like it wore glasses. It reminded them of a Mechawful, but there was one thing that made it look a bit more dangerous: the fact that it wielded a ray gun.

"TARGETS: LOCKED ON. THREAT: MINIMUM. UNIT 17: FIGHTING-PROTOCOL START," the robot said, and pointed the gun at them. It fired at them, but Starlow and Dreambert evaded the shot. The robot tried again, but they dodged the rays again.

"We can´t go on like this forever. We need a plan," Starlow said, and dodged another ray.

Some Toads were not so lucky, and got hit by the rays. They seemed to be like the magic Nico uses, as the Toads fell unconscious after they got hit.

"TARGETS: STILL ACTIVE. UNIT 17: SWITCH TO EXTENDED PROTOCOL," the machine announced, and jumped towards them. It tried to hit them with its fist, but they managed to drop to the ground in time, and rolled away. Unit 17 then chased them again, still trying to hit them with its hands and shots.

The robot got a lucky hit on Dreambert with its fist, and the Pi'illo Prince landed on the floor. The gun was pointed at him, but before the enemy could fire, it suddenly was sent flying across the room. Behind the position where it had been standing flew Kamek on his broom, his wand in his hand.

"I never liked technology," he said and helped Dreambert up. The robot lied on the ground, but the magic blast didn´t seem to be enough. It stood up again.

"DAMAGE REPORT: SEVERE DAMAGE TAKEN. UNIT 17: ENTER REBUILDING MODE," the machine said, and created a shield around it. It then stood still.

"It seems to be repairing the damage it has taken. You guys need to take care of it, while I deal with our friends," Kamek told them.

"But how should we fight that thing?" Starlow asked.

The Magikoopa thought about it, and then replied "I know that you two are in love with each other. I´ve read a book about special types of magic, and love was a part of them. You both need to concentrate on what you love about the other one. If your love is strong enough, you are able to perform magical attacks as a duo. You will know that this is the case when you feel new energy rushing through your bodies. I think the most common love attack would be firing a beam of love at the foe."

They did what he told them to do, and after a few moments, they felt a new sort of energy inside them. They looked at each other, happier than ever before. When Dreambert pointed at the robot, Starlow nodded. They focused, and a beam appeared from both her star and his hands. They directed it onto the robot and the shield, and the beam managed to break through it, much to their surprise. The machine got struck by their love, and after a few seconds, it collapsed on the ground. Sparks were appearing all over its body, and the robot exploded.

"We…did it? Oh my, thank you, Kamek," Starlow said.

"It was necessary. Now let us get these guys up again. And better don´t tell Nico what you can do, because this might be an advantage we have," the Magikoopa replied.

He used his magic and woke the Mario Bros. up again, as well as restoring the health of Bowser. Starlow and Dreambert fired their beam at the field around the Elite Trio, and managed to break it.

"Why are you here, Kamek? I thought Bowser told you to stay at the castle," Corporal Paraplonk asked.

"Yes, about that…this seems awfully familiar, but it has been taken over by Nico´s robots. They surprised us, and I wasn´t able to defend the castle against them. There were two other humans as well, and Nico wasn´t one of them. It seems as if he has some friends with him," Kamek answered.

Bowser still wasn´t up, but he seemed to have heard the news. His eyes snapped open, and he cried "MY CASTLE? AGAIN?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I was able to save myself when I realised that the castle would fall. When I got here, I saw Nico flying into the direction of it, so I guess that he uses it as a base now," Kamek reported.

Suddenly, the metal ball on the ground made a ringing noise. Dreambert floated towards it and pressed a green blinking button. A hologram of Nico was projected by it. As soon as he saw everyone being well, he was clearly shocked, but quickly regained his confidence.

"Well, it looks like Unit 17 failed. And I guess that this is thanks to you, Kamek. But it doesn´t matter. It was only a robot programmed to fight little guys like Starlow and Dreambert. My strongest fighters will annihilate you. As Kamek probably told you, I am at Bowser´s Castle. And guess which castle I´ll take over next," he said with a grin, and then ended the conversation.

"He is going to attack Peach´s Castle! How should we be able to defend it against a whole army?" Luigi asked.

"Well," Kamek replied, "this time, I´ll be prepared. Leave the castle to us, while you go and try to throw them out of King Bowser´s castle."

"We cured some Toads inflicted by Nico´s magic with the Miracle Cure, so you should visit Dr. Toadley first. We used it, because we tried to find a quicker way to deal with the effects. Bring us the Miracle Cure, and we will have much better chances of defending the castle. We can use it to reanimate our defenders in battle," the intern suggested.

"That sounds like a promising idea. Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert! Let´s go!" Mario said and hurried out of the room.

They arrived at Toad Town and went to the clinic. Upon entering it, they noticed Dr. Toadley lying on the ground in the fortune telling room. They ran towards him, and found out that he was unconscious.

"Wait, this can only mean one thing…" Dreambert began, but was interrupted by a robotic laugh behind them.

They turned around, and saw a robot that looked exactly like Nico. In one of its hands was the Miracle Cure.

"Are you looking for something? Well, too bad. My master saw this coming and told me to take care of your possible advantage," it said.

Strangely enough, this robot seemed to have some sort of personality. They prepared to fight it, but the robot didn´t seem to be interested in fighting.

"My master has his own plan for you. One that will top every other plan. And I, his greatest invention, by the name of 'Nicbot', will assist him in every way possible. You are already set to fail, and if I could do it, I´d cry right now. I´d cry from laughing at your misery!" he said.

Right after that, he threw the Miracle Cure on the ground. His hand turned into an energy launcher, and before they could do anything, the Miracle Cure got destroyed by an energy missile.

"Ahahahaha! You are pathetic, and I am the greatest after Nico. See you later, losers," he taunted them and left the clinic.

"I´d like to destroy that guy just for his personality…" a VERY angry Starlow said.

"Let us focus on Toadley for now," Luigi suggested.

"Yes, you´re right. The Miracle Cure was such a great thing, but he still is the best doctor in the kingdom. Let us bring him to the castle," Mario said, and they picked him up.

He silently muttered "Miracle _Toadley_ Cure" after Mario mentioned its name. Some people just had their principles, didn´t they?

They arrived at Peach´s Castle, and everyone ran towards them when they saw who they were carrying. Kamek approached them, and sent a white magic orb at Toadley. It didn´t wake him up instantly, but he didn´t seem to be unconscious anymore. He appeared to be sleeping.

"It looks like it was a strong blast that hit him," the Magikoopa said.

"It was a robot called 'Nicbot'. It looked exactly like Nico, and he claimed to be the greatest invention of his master. He seems to be his co-leader or something like that," Dreambert explained.

"I see. Back at Bowser´s Castle, I noticed something. Not all minions went down after they got hit once. Football Chucks had to be hit several times before they went down. I guess the more durable a target is, the more shots it can take," Kamek reported.

"Guys? What about the Miracle Cure?" the intern asked them.

"Oh…Nicbot destroyed it," Starlow said with a bitter voice.

"What?! This is bad, like, REALLY bad!" the intern yelled.

"You have to stay strong! I know that you can show Nico that we will keep fighting," Dreambert encouraged them.

"Kamek, can we count on you being our most valuable defender?" Mario asked.

"Sure. Time to show everyone what I can do. You should go to Bowser´s Castle, after you got a few items," he answered.

"Perfect. Alright, guys, let´s prepare ourselves. The shortest way to Bowser´s Castle should be via Blubble Lake and Bumpsy Plains," Starlow said.

Mario, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert left the castle and bought items in Toad Town. They then set off into the direction of Bubble Lake, determined to stop Nico for good.

* * *

 **Maybe they DO have a chance. Starlow and Dreambert are a much more valuable addition to the team now. However, I still think ahead. Man, it is weird to write about my story-self in first person...**

 **Luckily, the Miracle Cure wasn´t the one from Madz´s stories. Oh dear, that would have been brutal...**

 **As always: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	4. More problems arise

**I´m glad that Easter holidays exist, because I get to a) write a new chapter almost every single day, and b) celebrate my birthday without having to go to school. Won´t tell you when exactly that is, though.**

 **Go, Chapter 4! I choose you!**

* * *

"What in the world…?" Luigi said after they arrived at Blubble Lake. Nico´s robots were patrolling all over the place.

"If he can spend all these robots here, how many must be in his arsenal then?" Starlow asked.

There was no way around them without getting spotted, so they decided to fight those which were in their way. Luckily, they were walking around alone, which meant that they could deal with some of them the sneaky way. As soon as the nearest unit turned its back towards them, they quickly made their way towards it. Both Mario and Luigi had their hammers ready, and they landed them on the head of the machine. It fell over, and they kept hammering it until they were sure that it was destroyed.

"ENEMIES: SPOTTED. ENGAGING," they heard behind them. A unit stood there and drew a ray gun. It fired at them repeatedly, but Mario and Luigi had more than enough training in dodging rays against the Shroobs. While they kept it busy, Starlow and Dreambert focused on their love and fired it at the foe.

It got hit by it and collapsed on the ground, but two more robots spotted them. One of them had a gun as well, while the other one activated an energy blade. The robot with the gun fired at them, while the other one charged and tried to hit Mario with the blade. He blocked the hit with his hammer and counterattacked, but his hit was blocked as well. Luigi dealt with the other robot, and Starlow and Dreambert scooted behind the melee fighter and struck it with a beam of love.

No more robots were close, so they made their way to the east. When they heard more robots closing in, they hid behind a rock to let them pass. The four of them were about to go on, when they heard a robot where they defeated the four robots.

"DESTROYED UNITS FOUND. REPORTING IN."

"Great, now everyone knows that we´re coming this way," Dreambert said.

"Uh, guys? Is the tower supposed to be moving?" Starlow asked and looked into the distance.

The Tower of Yikk, which Bowser battled as a giant, could be seen moving into the direction of Bumpsy Plains. After it walked a few steps, it stopped and lowered itself to become a regular tower again.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Luigi said.

"TARGETS: SPOTTED. INITIALIZING CAPTURE," a robotic voice close to them announced. They had been seen.

"We got no time to worry about that for now. We have a problem right here," Mario told them.

Four more robots were standing there. One of them was a melee fighter, while the other ones wielded guns. They started firing at the heroes, who ran out of line of fire. The other one chased at Starlow and Dreambert, who narrowly avoided the blade. Mario and Luigi took one robot out by stomping on it.

"Guys? A little help here?" Dreambert yelled.

The other robots had joined the melee fighter and chased the couple as well. Starlow eventually got hit by the blade, and fainted. The robot picked her up with its other hand.

"TARGET 4: DEFEATED," the robot said, and activated thrusters built in its legs. It flew into the direction of the tower.

"Starlow!" Dreambert cried. He wasn´t able to pay attention, and he got struck by a gunshot. The other two robots ran towards him and picked him up as well. They followed the other one and left Mario and Luigi alone.

"We have to save them! Who knows what Nico could do to them," Luigi exclaimed, and they both started running.

They stopped at the tower for two reasons: Nico stood next to their unconscious friends, and the tower now blocked the passage to Bumpsy Plains. As soon as he saw them, a grin crossed his face.

"There you are. You kept me waiting, and I don´t like that. Look at what my minions brought to me," he said and pointed at his hostages. He placed a red metal ball between them.

"Come any closer, and this bomb will wipe out your friends," he warned the brothers.

He drew his ray gun from his pocket and aimed it at Dreambert. A green beam appeared from it, which woke the Pi'illo Prince up. He then adjusted the settings and created an orange beam. After he was finished, he repeated the procedure with Starlow. He picked the bomb up, and it was put into his "Jetback" by a robotic arm that came from it.

"Dreambert and Starlow! The Mario Bros. are trying to destroy all beings that aren´t human, including you. You have to stop them right now!" he commanded. "I´ll be at Bowser´s Castle, have fun with these two," Nico told Mario and Luigi, and flew away. A robot equipped with two guns took his place. It created a shield to protect itself.

"I think we have no choice. We need to knock them out in order to undo the mind-control," Mario said, as their friends hovered towards them.

"Let´s try not to hurt them badly," Luigi suggested, and they both prepared to fight them.

Starlow and Dreambert flew up high and started spinning. They then came down at the brothers at high velocity. They didn´t know that they could become that fast, and got hit by them. The couple then scooted back and waited for them to attack. Mario and Luigi equipped their hammers and jumped at the two, but they dodged the hammer strikes after the brothers landed in front of them. Starlow used her Star Sprite levitation abilities and put Mario´s cap in front of his eyes, which momentarily blinded him. Dreambert distracted Luigi by charging at him every now and then.

While Mario was blinded, Starlow levitated the hammer out of his hand. When the plumber got the cap out of his face, she hit him with his own hammer and sent him onto the ground. She then threw the hammer back at him, right on his head. He didn´t get knocked out by her counterattack, but now he was hurt and angry. He picked his hammer up and charged at the Star Sprite.

In the meantime, Luigi was busy keeping Dreambert away from him. The Pi'illo Prince wouldn´t stop charging at him, and whenever Luigi tried to knock him away with his hammer, he dodged out of the way. It continued in this manner, until Luigi got a lucky hit on him. Dreambert was sent flying away and landed a few feet away from Starlow.

She noticed her injured boyfriend and became furious, but that way she didn´t pay attention on Mario, who hit her with his hammer. She landed on the ground as well, but managed to roll away as Luigi tried to hit her. Dreambert got up again and hovered up high into the air. Starlow followed him, and together they created a love beam. It followed Luigi, who ran away from it. Mario picked up a rock that was lying on the ground, and threw it at Dreambert.

He got hit by it, and couldn´t concentrate on keeping the beam up. It disappeared, and they tried to dive into the brothers again. This time they were prepared, and used their hammers to smack them into the wall of the tower. The impact caused their friends to faint.

The robot noticed the unconscious pair and deactivated its shield. It aimed at Mario and Luigi and fired at them. They didn´t get hit, but because the robot could fire at both of them at the same time, they weren´t able to get close to it.

Luigi then had an idea. He took a green shell and threw it on the ground, still dodging the rays fired by the machine. He continued to evade the shots and ran towards the shell again. He kicked it towards the robot, which got hit by it. This irritated it for a brief moment, enough to let Mario kick the shell back. Each time they kicked the shell into the robot, they closed in on it.

When they were close enough, Luigi kicked the shell so hard that it flew off the ground and hit the head of the robot. They then got their hammers and crushed the robot´s head between them, making it collapse on the ground. It tried to shoot at them one last time, but the system shut down before it could do that. It then exploded into little fragments.

Mario and Luigi panted, but were able to relax again. They got two 1-Up Mushrooms and reanimated Starlow and Dreambert. When they woke up, they were confused and didn´t know what happened to them.

"Mario? Luigi? What happened? And why does my body hurt so much?" Starlow asked them.

"You got defeated by the robots, and Nico then mind-controlled you. He ordered you to fight us, so we had to knock you guys out. I didn´t know you could fight like that," Luigi explained.

"Like what?" Dreambert asked.

"We´ll explain what you did later on. We should heal ourselves for now, and then find another way to Bowser´s Castle," Mario suggested.

"Great idea. In the south-west should be a passage to Dimble Wood, we could go through there," Starlow said. They all ate a Mushroom, and then made their way back to where they came from.

After defeating several robots and walking towards the desired location, they arrived at the pathway that connected Blubble Lake and Dimble Wood. As they were about to leave the lake, Nicbot stepped into sight.

"Well, it appears that you had the courage to beat your own friends. How did it feel? I hope that it was a horrible experience for you," he said. They just starred at him, full of anger.

"And you know what is horrible as well? The fact that you are trying to stop us. You have no chance, so why are you even trying? It doesn´t matter, because you will see for yourself," he continued.

He transformed his hand into his energy launcher again and flew up high, using thrusters built into his legs and back.

"But I think that you should take the long way around to your failure," he told them, and destroyed the path with a salvo of missiles. "Ahahaha, have fun, losers," he taunted them and flew away.

"That thing is even worse than Nico…" Luigi said.

"Maybe. But for now, we have only one option left: Cavi Cape, Plack Peach, Dimble Wood, Bumpsy Plains and then Bowser´s Castle," Starlow replied.

"Sigh…this guy is already at the very top on my list of people and things I never want to see again," Dreambert said.

Together, they wandered south and entered Cavi Cape.

* * *

 **Mario and Luigi had to beat up their friends? Oh man, what a mean guy I am…**

 **So, they need to take the path Bowser had to go in order to reach his castle. Little do they know, that someone they don´t know yet will be waiting for them…**

 **You know how this goes: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter.**


	5. ANOTHER human?

**I will put two more characters in this story, one of them here and the other one later on. It is another one of my dreams: the three of us as a team, fighting against our enemies. Who these guys will be? Read the chapter to find out.**

 **Starting: Chapter 5.**

* * *

They passed through the small section of Cavi Cape, which leads towards Plack Beach. Plack Beach looked exactly like the last time they saw it, with the only difference being…

"More robots," Starlow said, annoyed.

"How was he able to produce all these things without anyone noticing it?" Luigi wondered.

"I have no idea. Let´s go, we need to walk a long way until we reach our goal," Mario commanded.

They started walking, but soon encountered the first enemies. One robot with a gun and a new type they have not seen before spotted them. The new robot started spinning, and drilled itself into the ground. The robot with the gun fired at them, but they managed to dodge the rays. Suddenly, the other robot emerged from the ground, but it was beneath Luigi. It drilled out of the ground feet first, and he got hit by the rotating feet. The robot then landed on its hands and pushed itself off the ground with them. It landed next to its ally, which still kept firing at the brothers.

Because Luigi got hit and lost his concentration for a short moment, the robot was able to shoot him. The ray didn´t knock him out, but severely weakened the plumber. When another shot was about to hit him, Mario pushed him out of line of fire. Starlow and Dreambert destroyed the range fighter with their new signature move, while the other one started spinning again and disappeared into the ground. They did notice that it spun clockwise, which could have been an indication on who it will target. Mario waited for as long as it took the machine to appear beneath Luigi, and then jumped back. The robot drilled out of the ground, but didn´t hit him. He knocked it away with his hammer, and Starlow and Dreambert finished the job with a beam.

"They got you good, Luigi," Dreambert said after the robot collapsed.

"Phew…I´m tired," the plumber replied.

"Drink some Syrup, and then we need to go on," Mario suggested.

Luigi drank it and ate a Mushroom as well, so he was at full power again. They continued their path, and entered the area the swimming island was located in. They were about to pass it, when they spotted a sign which stood at the exit to the next area. Curious, they read it.

"Area ahead under destruction working. Please use pipe on island to proceed."

"Wait…under _destruction_ working?" Starlow asked.

Right after that, a series of explosions destroyed a big part of the beach in front of them. It was replaced by the water, and thus made the area impassable. They looked at the water in disbelief.

"Is that another one of Nico´s methods to stall our progress?" Mario asked.

When they stepped onto the island, they found the warp pipe the sign mentioned. In front of it was another sign.

"My bombs are quite effective, aren´t they? Don´t worry, you will get a chance to pass through Plack Beach. This pipe will take you to the top of the cliff. However, I destroyed the pipe that brings you to the bottom again, so I guess you´ll have to walk…," was written on it, and it was signed by Nico.

"This guy has got to be kidding us. How far does he want us to walk?" Luigi asked.

"No time to complain about that, because this is the only option we have," Dreambert replied.

They entered the pipe, and it brought them to the cliff, just as Nico promised. The pipe that leads to the bottom of the cliff was gone as well.

"I have an idea. Why don´t we ask Chakron to bring us to Bowser´s Castle?" Starlow suggested.

Everyone agreed, and they walked towards Chakron´s platform. What they found there wasn´t Chakron, but another sign.

"Oh, right. I can´t allow you to do that, so I´ve locked Chakron into the cold chamber in Bowser´s Castle. Don´t worry, I won´t free the Shroobs. They simply want to destroy everything, way too uncreative."

"I can´t believe it…he really planned this one through, didn´t he?" Mario angrily said.

"Seems like it. I hope Chakron is alright…" Luigi said, worried about the wellbeing of the keeper of the green Star Cure.

They started climbing down, and soon encountered more robots. They were flying around, because the small path didn´t allow them to stand on it together. One of them was equipped with a baseball bat, while the other one had an energy blade. The heroes quickly found out why one robot had a bat, as it flew towards Mario and Luigi and tried to send them off the path with it. They were able to block the hits with their hammers, but the other robot engaged them as well. Mario decided to concentrate on the one with the bat, while Luigi kept its ally at bay.

Starlow and Dreambert destroyed the one with the blade, allowing the brothers to focus on the remaining machine. They attacked the robot, which blocked their hits. Mario kept engaging him, while Luigi waited for the right moment. When the robot was about to block another one of Mario´s hits, he swung his hammer at one of its feet. The thruster malfunctioned, which caused to robot to fly around uncontrollably, because it had only one thruster left. Mario managed to hit the other foot, and knocked the thruster on it out as well. Without the thrusters being active, the robot started to fall down. They didn´t see it again.

Mario and Luigi jumped down and landed on the lower platforms. They battled through more robots, and eventually arrived at the bottom. The four of them left the cliff area and entered the beach area again. They wandered north, and passed by the statue. In the next area, where Bowser had fought Broggy, someone was waiting for them. Upon entering, they noticed the figure standing in the open.

It was a human, but not Nico. He was shorter than their enemy and had brown, short hair as well. He wore a black jacket and jeans. He had to be around the same age as Nico. They spotted two handles, hanging on his belt. As soon as he saw them coming closer, he took the handles into both of his hands. Energy blades emerged from them, but they were bigger than the ones the robots use. The length of them made them two energy swords.

"So you are finally here. As Nicbot already told you: you will fail. And I will make sure that this happens," the mysterious guy said. He had to be on Nico´s side, without a doubt.

"Who are you? We don´t take threats from people who don´t give us a name," Starlow said, ready to fight.

"Of course not. I go by the name of Marius, and am one of Nico´s friends. I am helping him, so he can fulfil his dreams," Marius said.

"I guess that means that you are about to fight us, right?" Dreambert asked. They all took battle stance, and waited for Marius to take action.

"Smart guy. I´ll deal with you, and then nothing will bother us anymore. I am going to be the Crisis of the Red and Green," he told them, and prepared for battle as well.

He charged at the brothers, who quickly took their hammers out to defend themselves. Starlow and Dreambert fired a beam at him, but he rolled under the beam and evaded it with that. He was now close to Mario and Luigi, and the couple didn´t want to risk hitting them.

Marius swung his swords at Mario, who managed to block the hit with his hammer. Luigi hurried towards them and tried to hit Marius, but he used one of his swords to keep him away. He was easily able to fight both brothers at the same time. He attacked from different angles and at different speed, which made it hard for them to guard themselves.

Starlow and Dreambert floated behind him, but their foe noticed this. He dashed between the brothers and started to move around them, still sending a barrage of swings at them. That way, he couldn´t be targeted by their two range fighters. They hovered up above them, and were able to get a clear line of fire between them and Marius. The beam hit him, but it didn´t bother the human as much as the robots did. He was temporarily stunned by their love, which allowed the brothers to simultaneously hit him with an uppercut. He was sent flying back, but landed on his feet again.

"Impressive. I´m sure Nico would like to know about this. But don´t think you can get me that easily," he said after he landed.

He ran towards them again, but when Luigi was about to knock him back with a hammer strike, he jumped over them and landed between Starlow and Dreambert, who had returned to the brothers again. He quickly started spinning, and struck them with his swords. Starlow got knocked out, but Dreambert somehow managed to stay awake. He wasn´t able to hover anymore, and Marius kicked him away. He then focused on the brothers, who desperately tried to break through his defence.

Dreambert on the other hand started crawling towards the unconscious Star Sprite. They had been smart enough to give everyone a few items, so they wouldn´t have to rely on someone in particular. He lost a Syrup Jar on his flight, and he drank it as soon as he reached it. It didn´t fully restore his energy, but it was enough to allow him to hover again. He then floated towards Starlow, and fed her a 1-Up Mushroom. She woke up again.

"Thank you, Dreambert," she said when she saw who revived her. They hugged each other for a short moment, and then returned to the fight.

Marius didn´t notice them, so they stunned him with another love beam. This time, Mario and Luigi hammered him over and over again. Every other enemy would have gone down by that, but he was way more durable than they thought. He managed to slowly overcome the stunning effect, and used one sword to block off the beam. He used the other one to block Luigi´s strikes, while he dodged the ones from Mario. He then rolled backwards and gained space for his movement again.

"You are strong fighters, I´ll give you that. But I´m not done with you," he admitted.

He started spinning towards the four heroes. Marius came closer, and they were trying to find a way to stop him. Mario then had an idea. He got a Snack Basket, and Luigi understood. He quickly ate the food that was inside of it, and inflated massively. Mario then lifted him up, and threw him into the air. Luigi came back onto the ground and created a massive shockwave. It hit the spinning Marius, and the impact sent him into the air, just like what happened to Chakron back then. He came back to the ground, but he was still spinning, causing him to partially drill himself into it. He tried to get out of it again, but Mario and Luigi stomped onto him. They stomped him completely into the ground.

After a few seconds, he drilled himself out of the ground again, a few feet away from them. He looked seriously beaten up, but he was able to stand on both feet, and he didn´t seem to be severely weakened.

"Fine, I´ll retreat for now. You were lucky, remember that!" he said.

He threw a grey ball on the ground, and it created a smoke screen in front of them. When the smoke disappeared again, Marius was gone.

"What is it with these villains always escaping?" Starlow asked.

"Because it´d be too easy, I guess…" Luigi answered.

"I´m surprised that someone like Nico has friends…" Mario said.

They replenished their health and energy, and continued their path. The heroes approached the entrance towards Dimble Wood, when they heard someone clapping. It was Nicbot again.

"Not bad. You managed to keep up with Marius, and there are not many guys who can do that. However, he is the weakest of us. You´ll never be able to stand against the rest. Oh, and I´ve prepared Dimble Wood for you. You are allowed to take the longest path possible, much to our entertainment. See you, losers," he said, and flew away.

"At one point, we´ll make sure that he won´t ever talk again," Dreambert said, annoyed by the robot.

"Agreed," everyone replied.

Together, they entered Dimble Wood.

* * *

 **Marius is one of my real life friends. The other one, who is a friend of mine as well, will appear in a later chapter.**

" **Crisis of the Red and Green" is the name of the Boss Battle Theme in M &L: PiT. I built that in here, because Marius is a boss they need to fight, and I love that song.**

 **It only makes sense if Syrup helps against the lack of energy they had. It refills your SP, which you need for Special Attacks. And these attacks sure cost some energy, so in my opinion, SP resembles your energy to perform these attacks. Syrup restores SP, and therefor energy. I hope that you understand my logic here.**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	6. Tricks in Dimble Woods

**One of these days has been my birthday, and I am glad to have great friends like Marius. He gave me something I am happy about, and it isn´t anything special. It was just the right thing to make me happy.**

 **Enough about me, I know that you want some story. Here you have it!**

 **If you are not familiar with the layout of Dimble Wood: better have a map ready, because this can get confusing...**

* * *

They saw what the robot meant. The path to the north was blocked, so they had to go east. When they arrived at the water, they spotted a newly built wooden bridge.

"So he basically changed the pathing in Dimble Wood, which probably means that we will be here for a long time," Starlow assumed.

"But why would he do that?" Dreambert wondered.

"You heard what Nicbot said: We are entertaining Nico that way," Luigi replied, annoyed by the fact that their path was even longer now.

"Maybe…but I feel like something bigger is behind that," Starlow said.

"The more time we waste here, the later we are done with him. Let´s go," Mario said and started walking.

They crossed the bridge and went west, where Broque Monsieur´s shop was located. The section of the area with the shop itself wasn´t accessible either, so they were forced to keep on going west, where Mario and Luigi had collected the remaining Attack Pieces for their Snack Basket attack. They eventually arrived at where Luigi had found his unconscious brother, as well as fought the four Sockops together with him.

There, a passage to the east had been created. It looked like Nicbot just blew his way through the forest, but it was a path. They re-entered the area Broque´s shop was in, but this time on the shop-site. Both Broque and Broggy weren´t there. A sign was placed in front of the shop.

"Don´t worry, I just…'convinced' them to leave this area and move to Toad Town. They were in the way, and Broque agreed after I showed him why he shouldn´t stay here," was written on it, signed by Nico of course.

"I think I know what 'convinced' means…" a nervous Dreambert said.

"Yeah, he probably was like 'Get out of here, or I´ll obliterate you'," Luigi assumed, shivering at the thought of what their enemy could do to everyone if they couldn´t stop him.

"According to Nico, they are alright. He has kept his promises so far, and he doesn´t seem to be cruel," Mario said, and they started walking again.

They entered the next area to the north, where they were forced to go left again. They went west as far as they could, and then entered the area to the north of the most western area. On the way there, they battled through some Treevils and Trashures. In this area, Nicbot had created another path for them. It led them to where the warp pipe into Bowser was located.

From there, they travelled west again, where another passage was located. The path to the north was blocked off. The passage brought them to where Fawful sold Bowser the Vacuum Shroom. They found a way to the main path again, which one would usually take in order to reach Bumpsy Plains. From there, they had to go south again, because rocks blocked the pathway to the north.

From where Bowser built a bridge with a Wiggler statue, they turned east and wandered towards the farm owned by Wiggler. They reached it, and finally found a path that led to the west. They entered the final area of Dimble Wood, which was connected with Bumpsy Plains. But of course, things couldn´t be easy.

The path that connected Dimble Wood with Bumpsy Plains was blocked by a gate, and the only way to open it seemed to be five keyholes.

"Where do we get the keys for that one?" Dreambert wondered.

"Ah, there you are. I hope you are ready to play a game with me," a voice behind them said. A small drone was projecting Nico. "I have hidden five robots in this forest. Each one holds one of the keys for the gate. The areas you need to search are marked on the map this drone will show you. Have fun," he said, and ended the conversation. The little machine now projected a map of Dimble Wood, and five areas glowed yellow.

"The first one is at Wiggler´s farm. Let´s go," Starlow said.

They rushed off, and entered the large area of the farm, where Bowser learned his sliding punch. A sign stood in the middle of it.

"How do you get that key? On one of these carrots, I have tied a remote which will call the robot to you. You only have to pull the carrots out in order to find it. But be aware: you need to eat every carrot you pull out, just like the Wigglers want it. If you don´t do that, the bomb-drone behind you will shatter you into pieces."

They turned around, and saw a red metal ball floating behind them.

"Don´t think you can destroy it, because as soon as you attack it, it will detonate. Follow the rules, and you´ll be safe. Of course, the robot will defend the key I gave it…"

That was written on the sign, and they looked around. The area was filled with carrots, and finding the right one could take forever. They didn´t have a choice, however.

"Alright, let´s split up. Here are four fields, so everyone searches through one," Luigi suggested.

They started pulling out carrots, and ate them after they checked them for the remote control. The carrots were not that big, so they quickly checked half of the carrots in ten minutes. After another fifteen minutes, they had checked every single carrot, but didn´t find the remote.

"PLAYING: MESSAGE," the drone announced. It then started playing an audio recording.

"If you hear that, you managed to eat all carrots in here. Impressive. Oh, and the remote control is located in the area where the Giga-carrot was grown. I have planted a small, single carrot there. I got you on that one, huh?"

"MESSAGE: END," the drone told them.

"We fell for that one, I´ll give him that," Mario said, and they wandered north.

As promised, a carrot was growing in the earth. They pulled it out, and spotted the remote on it. After they removed it from the carrot, they ate the vegetable.

"MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED. DRONE: RETURNING TO BASE," the drone said, and flew off.

"Let´s get this over with," Mario said, and pushed the button on the remote.

A robot landed in front of them. It had a ray gun, nothing special. They quickly destroyed it, and got hold on the first key.

"Why do I feel like this was only the easiest of the fights?" Starlow asked.

"Because it most likely will be that way," Dreambert replied.

They returned to the drone with the map. They looked at it in order to find the remaining keys. The next one was located where Bowser had saved his Goombas.

After they arrived there and jumped over the bridge Bowser had built, they spotted another sign.

"Here you will need to prove your 1vs1 skills. Up ahead is a robot with a bat. You will have to try to knock it into the water using your hammers. But the catch is: only one of you is allowed to battle the robot. The key will be destroyed if you a) try to battle the robot with more than one person or b) get knocked into the water by the robot."

"So…who of you battles that thing?" Starlow asked the brothers.

"I´d say Luigi. He has a physical advantage, because he has longer arms. He is also more athletic than I am," Mario suggested.

"B-b-but what if I screw it up? We´ll never stop Nico if I fail," the green plumber nervously replied.

"We all believe in you! Show him what a Luigi can do," Dreambert motivated him.

Luigi felt better, knowing that everyone believed in him. He managed to rescue his brother on his own, and even fought giants in the Dream World. A single robot couldn´t be that much of a problem. He entered the island, where a robot waited for him.

"CHALLENGER: LUIGI. PLEASE CONFIRM," the robot said after it spotted him.

"Y-yes, I´ll battle you," he answered.

"FIGHTER: CONFIRMED. BATTLE: START," the machine announced.

It charged, and Luigi got his hammer ready. He blocked the first strike from it and counterattacked. The robot got hit by him and was sent flying back, but it stayed on the island. Luigi ran towards it to knock it away, but it jumped over him and gained more space. He charged at it again, but this time, he slid on the ground past the robot in the last moment. While he slid past it, he caught one of its legs with his hammer and forced the machine to trip.

Luigi got up, and knocked the machine away. It landed in the water, which meant that he won the challenge. The robot flew out of the water again and landed in front of him.

"WINNER: LUIGI. REWARD: KEY," the robot said, and handed him the key. It then flew away.

He returned to his friends, who were waiting for him. Everyone applauded when he came back, except Starlow of course. She flew up to him and gave him a pat on his back with her foot.

"We told you that you could do it," she cheered.

"Thank you for your support, guys," a relieved Luigi replied. "It looks like these things can operate underwater as well."

The drone with the map had followed them, so they weren´t required to walk back to it again. The next area was the "shop", where Fawful gave Bowser the Vacuum Shroom. They made their way there, and encountered four robots. A sign was placed in front of them.

"Guess which one? One of these robots holds the key you want. In order to get it, you need to defeat this robot. The rules are: only one robot can be attacked at once. No Special Attacks are allowed. Only the correct robot will attack you, but if you attack a wrong one, they will all attack you guys in return. If a wrong robot gets defeated, you will lose. Breaking these rules will result in the destruction of the key, as always."

"Well then, this could be interesting," Dreambert said.

"GROUP: READY TO FIGHT?" the robots asked.

"Ready," they replied.

A robot with two ray guns fired at them. They dodged the shots and prepared to fight it. Another robot had blades, one of them was a drilling robot, and the last one had two ray guns as well. Suddenly, they all dropped their weapons and shuffled, making it harder for the heroes to fight the correct robot. Mario was able to keep track of it, and so he attacked it. The robot had blades now, so it could defend itself against Mario´s hammer strikes. The other guys joined in as well, but when Starlow and Dreambert were ready to fire a love beam at it, the other robots moved in the way.

The real robot started walking between the other ones, which meant that Mario and Luigi had to be careful not to hit them. It didn´t really matter, because a robot stepped forward to take a hit from Luigi that would have gotten the right one.

"CONFIRMED: ATTACK. ALL UNITS: FIGHT," the robot said.

The robots with the guns opened fire, and the last one drilled itself into the ground. All of this together would have been a devastating attack, but the machines didn´t protect the robot with the key anymore. This allowed Starlow and Dreambert to shoot it with a love beam, which effectively put the robot down. The robots stopped firing at the Mario Bros., who had a hard time dodging all the rays. The last robot emerged from the ground again. The remaining three machines activated their thrusters and flew away. The destroyed robot fell apart, revealing a small box with the key in it.

They took it, and looked at the map the drone projected. It had followed them again. Next up was Broque Monsieur´s shop. They travelled there, and waited for instructions. A robot stood behind the counter, so they walked up to it.

"Welcome. I have the key you want, but you will have to do something to earn it. I have split the key into five pieces, and now these drones have them," it said, and five drones flew up behind it. "Your job is simple: catch these drones, and then return the pieces to me. I will repair it after you got every piece."

The drones flew away, leaving them to catch up to them. They chased the drones through the entire forest again, until Luigi managed to grab hold on one of the floating balls. It opened itself, and revealed a key-fragment. He took it, and together they ran after the remaining drones. It took them several minutes to collect another one, and they spent 20 minutes in total on catching the flying objects.

They returned the fragments to the robot, which crafted a key out of them. As they were about to take it, it interrupted them.

"No, that work needs to be paid. 20 coins, please," it said.

Starlow and Dreambert couldn´t believe it. First, they had to chase down five VERY agile drones, and then they needed to pay for the key? They had enough of that, and destroyed the robot with a love beam. Starlow levitated the key towards Mario, who took it. The last marked area was where Luigi saved Mario from the giant Sockop.

They battled their way through some Sockops, and arrived at the location. Down on the ground, 20 Scutlets could be seen next to a robot. A sign with instructions stood at the entrance.

"How good can you remember things? Find out here. Let´s play some Scutlet Memory. On the belly of each Scutlet, a symbol is drawn. There are 10 matching pairs, and it is your job to find them. The rules are simple: One of you guys gets to play. No help from others allowed! The player needs to choose one Scutlet. The robot will turn it around, and you get to see the symbol. Then you choose another one, and it gets turned around as well. If the symbols match, the Scutlets are taken out of the game. If they don´t, the Scutlets will be turned around again, and you lose a life. You have six lives in total. You win if you get all ten pairs before you run out of lives. You fail if you lose all of your lives or receive help from others."

"I´d say we send Starlow in," Luigi suggested.

"Umm…are you sure about that?" she asked, and shivered at the sight of 20 of THEM. Nobody knew it, but since the large Scutlet inside of Bowser had eaten her, she had developed a fear towards those creatures.

"Of course. You are our thinker. If one is able to solve this, it is you," Mario said.

"Uh…Dreambert, can I talk to you in private?" she asked her boyfriend.

"Of course," a curious Dreambert answered.

They hovered off, and now he was able to see how much she was shaking. He hugged her, and she calmed down a bit.

"I…am afraid of these things…" she whispered. She explained what had happened to her back then, and he could understand her.

"Everything is alright. You don´t need to be afraid of these little things. I mean, you could easily eat THEM, but they can´t eat YOU. If one of these things comes even a step closer, I´ll beat it up for you," he assured her.

She was able to give him a weak smile. "You´re right. I´ll do it," she said. They kissed for a short moment, and then returned to the brothers.

"Are you alright, Starlow?" Luigi asked.

"Yes I am. I´ll solve the puzzle for you," she said, and hovered forward.

The robot saw her coming closer. "CONTESTANT: STARLOW. PLEASE CONFIRM," it told her.

"Let´s just get started already," she replied, annoyed.

"TAKEN AS: CONFIRMATION," the robot said.

She selected a Scutlet. The symbol on it was a Mushroom. The next one was an Ice Flower. The Scutlets got turned around again.

"LIVES REMAINING: FIVE," the machine told her.

"I think I´m smart enough to know that myself!" she yelled at the robot.

She selected another Scutlet, and it had an Ice Flower on it as well. Starlow picked the corresponding Scutlet, and they were removed from the field. The next Scutlet had a Fire Flower on it, and another one showed a green shell. She had four lives left, but focused on the game. Next up was a 1-Up Mushroom, as well as a normal Mushroom. She picked the two Scutlets with a Mushroom on them, and they got removed.

Three more lives left, eight pairs to go. She found another green shell, and took it out of the game. Next was a Nut, and she found a Syrup Jar as well. The next symbol was a 1-Up, so she removed that from the game as well.

"I´d like a 1-Up now, only two lives left…" she thought.

She found a Fire Flower, and took it out. The next symbol was a Refreshing Herb, next to a Pi'illo sign. She couldn´t do a mistake anymore, and got nervous when she found the tenth picture: a coin. She had no idea where to look for it, so she randomly chose a Scutlet she didn´t choose yet. Much to her surprise, it showed a coin as well. The Scutlets got removed, and she was now able to remove every Scutlet from the field.

"RESULT: STARLOW WON. REWARD: KEY," the robot said, and handed her the last key. It then flew away.

"Hooray! Starlow did it!" everyone cheered.

The drone behind them started ringing. They looked at it, and a green button blinked on it.

"I think this is Nico calling in," Dreambert said.

The drone started flying towards the gate again, and they followed it. When they arrived there, the drone stopped. Mario pressed the button, and Nico was projected by the drone again.

"So the game is over. Have you collected every single key?" he asked them.

"Of course we did! Who do you think we are?" Mario said.

"Well…" he began, and then started laughing. "I think that you are a bunch of FOOLS! To tell you the truth: the gate wasn´t even locked! And you still collected the keys for it, which made you waste a lot of your time. Thanks for that," he said with a grin, and ended the conversation. The drone flew away, into the direction of Bowser´s Castle.

"Please don´t tell me that this is true…" Luigi said, and walked towards the gate. He pushed it lightly, and it swung open.

They all fell on the ground in disbelief (like in Dream Team, when they were talking to the Dream Stone´s spirit).

"Did we really just fall for that?" a very angry Dreambert asked.

"Yeah…let´s go. I want to beat him up for that!" Starlow yelled, and hurried towards Bumpsy Plains.

The other heroes quickly followed her, determined to show Nico what their opinion on him was.

* * *

 **Well, they got tricked twice in Dimble Woods. And now they´re off to reach Nico. It is worth pointing out that Nico KNEW that they would collect the keys. Otherwise, it wouldn´t make sense.**

 **I thought that Starlow fearing Scutlets was a nice idea. It suddenly came to my head while I was writing, like almost everything in this chapter. I originally planned a fight against a Wiggler-robot here, but I couldn´t think of a good fight. Also, this chapter would have been way too short. Ok, it may be a bit long now, but writing a bit more is better than not writing enough.**

 **Up next: finally reaching Bowser´s Castle, and confronting Nico himself.**

 **Until then: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter…is that my catchphrase now?**


	7. Is he really unbeatable?

**Hey, guys. Here is Chapter 7, and I got nothing more to say about it…**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"How long does this take you?" Nico impatiently asked his robot via earpiece.

"He is giving us some serious trouble, but we are progressing. We just need some time," Nicbot answered.

"They are closing in, we don´t have much time left," Nico replied.

"I´d suggest we follow 'Plan N.2' for this part", Nicbot told him.

"I was going to do that. Call me when you are done," Nico said, and ended the conversation. "You have to do something yourself if you want it to be good…" he thought, and looked from the balcony of Bowser´s Castle.

* * *

The four of them quickly passed through Bumpsy Plains and entered Bowser Path. They tried to use the secret pipe to Bowser´s Castle first, but discovered that it has been destroyed. They had no choice but to go the long way. There were no guards in the first part, so they made it to the second part, which was surrounded by lava, quite fast.

They immediately noticed something when they got there. The lava level was significantly lower. When they looked at Bowser´s Castle, they could see new pipes coming from it, which led into the lava. And the Bowser statue on the castle now wore round glasses.

"He is pumping the lava into the castle?" Luigi asked.

"He has a reason for doing that. We just don´t know what that reason is," Dreambert responded.

"How about we go there, find out what his plans are and then beat him up?" Mario suggested.

"I´d like to beat him up before he tells us his plans…" Starlow said.

They continued their path and were about to reach the castle, when two robots with bats and a robot with a ray gun landed in front of them. The ones with bats jumped forward and tried to hit them into the lava, but Mario and Luigi were not interested in that. They counterattacked, while Starlow and Dreambert dealt with the other robot. The brothers were proven to be the better melee fighters, and kicked their opponents into the lava themselves.

They continued, and arrived at the castle. They stood in front of it and tried to find a way in, when the gate suddenly opened. Nobody was in sight.

"I don´t know about you guys, but this looks like a trap to me," Starlow said.

"Do we have a choice?" Dreambert asked.

They heard thrusters behind them. They turned around, and saw ten robots with ray guns landing behind them.

"I think we have, but I don´t like the second one," Luigi said, and together they ran into the castle.

Right after they entered it, the gate closed behind them. They looked around. Nico didn´t change the interior of the castle like Fawful did, with the exception of the Bowser statues being covered up, and the Bowser symbols were removed.

Only one door was open, so they went through it, always looking for traps. The path created for them led them upstairs, where the Throne Room was located. They entered it, and saw that it looked completely different. Monitors and computers were standing everywhere. This had to be Nico´s new Control Room.

In front of Bowser´s throne stood a computer with several monitors. This computer was the most important one. It was Nico´s own. On the throne sat none other than the leader himself. When they entered the room, he stood up and walked towards them. The four of them prepared for battle.

"My my, always up for a fight, aren´t we? You are guests in my new home, it isn´t very polite that you want to fight me," Nico said when was a few feet away from them.

"Give up, Nico. We went through your robots and Marius with ease. You won´t win a fight against us," Starlow replied.

"You are one confident Star Sprite, Starlow. But I think you forgot who you are up against. I won´t give up, and now that you made it here, I´ll have to take care of you myself. I didn´t plan it this way, but we will be successful either way," he told them, and activated the thrusters on his "Jetback".

Mario and Luigi charged at him with their hammers ready. Nico created two light blue spheres in his right hand and threw them at the brothers. They dodged them, but Nico formed his hand into a fist. The spheres turned back, and were about to hit Mario and Luigi.

"Guys! Behind you!" Dreambert yelled.

They looked back and saw the threat. They jumped over the spheres, and the projectiles were going to hit Nico. He simply opened his hand again, and they stopped in it. Starlow and Dreambert fired a love beam at him, but he created a blue shield in front of him with his other hand. Their love seemed to be stronger, though. Cracks started to appear on the shield, which Nico noticed.

"I´m interested: what kind of magic is that? I´ve never seen something like that before…" he asked them.

He then threw the spheres at the couple, and they had to stop the beam in order to dodge them. Mario and Luigi tried to strike him with their hammers, but he flew out of their range. He pointed his left hand at them, and they remembered what he did with it. They rolled out of the way, just before lightning bolts struck where they had been standing.

"How long does it take them…they have ONE job!" he angrily said.

Starlow and Dreambert got ready to fire another beam at him, but he noticed this. He quickly sent lightning strikes at them, which they narrowly evaded. He then created two purple spheres in his hands.

"Have fun with these!" he said with a grin, and threw them at the couple.

They flew out of line of fire, but the spheres changed their course as well. It was then that they realised that these were homing spheres. They had no choice but to keep flying around until they found a way to get rid of them.

Nico on the other hand lowered his altitude again and activated his own energy blade. He fought against both brothers at the same time by keeping his attack on one brother up, while he dodged the attacks from the other one. If one of them was getting too close to him, he fired a sphere at the one. Their friends finally had an idea. They flew into the direction of each other, and narrowly missed each other when their paths crossed. The spheres collided and exploded, allowing them to participate in the battle again.

As they fired a beam at him, his thrusters boosted him up into the air again. He had turned his back towards them, there was no way he could have seen that coming…or did he? What they didn´t know: his Jetback was equipped with sensors, and if any threat tried to catch him off guard, it would perform evasive manoeuvres.

"Nice try, but I thought ahead of things like that," he said and flew above his computer, so he could see all of them.

He deactivated his blade again. Nico raised both of his hands, and eight blue spheres appeared around him. They flew at the heroes all at once, which made it difficult to avoid them. While they dodged the spheres, he landed in front of his computer and charged at the heroes again. He activated his blade and sent more lightning bolts at his enemies while running towards them.

He attacked Luigi, who was barely able to keep up with the barrage of blows Nico sent at him. Mario tried to help and attacked Nico himself, but the human stepped back and threw another sphere at him. He noticed Starlow and Dreambert preparing another strike, so he created a purple sphere again. It was only one this time, and he threw it at Dreambert.

The Pi'illo Prince kept flying away from it, but they needed a plan to stop a single sphere. Nico kept attacking Luigi, but Mario was able to run towards Dreambert. When he flew past the plumber, Mario hammered the sphere into the ground, where it exploded. Luigi was about to lose the fight against Nico, but Mario took a red shell out and kicked it towards their foe.

He always had an eye on what happened around him, so he stepped back and let the shell pass him. This allowed Luigi to pull back and regroup with the others. It was then that Nico created a shield around him. He activated his earpiece.

"You better say something I want to hear, Nicbot," he warned his robot, who he was talking to. After a short break, a grin crossed his face. "Finally. I´ll deal with them and then come over," he said and ended the conversation.

Starlow and Dreambert fired another beam at the shield, and everyone knew that it wouldn´t last forever. They didn´t like the confident look on Nico´s face after Nicbot called him. Whatever he said, it seemed to please Nico.

"Well guys, this was fun. But now I need to go somewhere, and this castle comes with me. Do you even know why you are here? I wanted to keep you busy, so my troops could take over Peach´s Castle. And now that they gained control over it…" he told them, and created a circle of spheres around them.

The spheres weren´t the problem, however. As they looked around to find a way to escape the circle, Nico stunned them with four quick lightning bolts.

"I originally planned to let the castle fly away just as you were about to enter it, so your entire journey would have turned out to be pointless. But this is even better. You thought you could beat me, and now I defeated you. You failed, and now I can continue my plan," he continued.

He pointed his hands at them, and they were levitated onto the balcony.

"Another one of my abilities: I can levitate everything that is affected by my magic. And here is another one. I call it my 'Knockback Beam'. The name says everything, because this thing can throw you pretty far away," he said, and created a large blue ball of energy between his hands. "Don´t try to stop me, or I´ll destroy you. Enjoy your stay at Plack Beach," he said, and the ball sent out a beam.

They got knocked away at great velocity. The last thing they saw from Bowser´s Castle was the castle itself flying up, which meant that he kept this invention from Fawful. Plack Peach was closing in very fast, and the last thing Mario, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert thought was "Great, now I´ll have to get that sand out of my clothes…and we need to stop Nico". They crash-landed, and passed out because of the impact.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

"Wake up, guys!"

Starlow felt a rush of new energy inside her. She woke up, and saw Kamek standing in front of her. Looking around, she saw that her friends weren´t awake yet.

"At least you woke up. What in the world happened to you? I have tried to wake you up for at least ten minutes," the Magikoopa said when he saw her opening her eyes.

"Ugh…my head…" she was able to say, "Nico threw us out of Bowser´s Castle, and then we landed here," she explained to him.

"He threw you out? Strange, that some sort of reminds me of King Bowser´s adventure with you guys…what happened at the castle?" Kamek asked her.

"We arrived there and battled Nico. It turned out that he just bought himself some time with that, while his troops would…take over…Peach´s Castle…" she said, but then realised something. "Kamek? Did…he take it over?"

"Sadly, yes. I did everything I could, but there were too many robots, as well as his friends and Nicbot. I managed to bring a few people out, like the princess, Toadsworth, Toadbert, Toadiko, Dr. Toadley and King Bowser. The Elite Trio has been defeated by the humans, and almost every Toad and minion is now held captive," he told her.

"He…he hasn´t won yet! We will defeat him somehow!" she yelled, confident.

"It looked like Bowser´s Castle flew towards Peach´s Castle. Is he using both as his base now?" Kamek wondered.

"Well…he needs Bowser´s Castle for something. He has been pumping the lava that surrounded it into the castle," she said.

"Am I seeing something bad? Indeed I do," she heard someone behind Kamek say. He stepped to the side, and revealed Dr. Toadley looking into his crystal ball.

"What is it?" Kamek wanted to know.

"Have his robots built thrusters under Peach´s Castle as well? I think they have. Are both castles now flying in the air? Indeed they are. Pipes are being connected to Peach´s Castle, and bridges now connect both castles. Is that all? No it isn´t. A black shield is being created around them. Is this fortress invulnerable? For now it is," Toadley said while he gazed into the ball.

Starlow felt her hopes shrink to a minimum size. If Nico had a fortress that they couldn´t invade, what were the chances that they could stop him? It looked like he had won. And they couldn´t do anything about it. Nico was right. They would fail.

* * *

 **Nico has bested them in battle. Peach´s Castle is now under his control as well. Both castles are unreachable for them. Is there a way to stop him now? And what are his plans?**

 **Have the first question answered in the next chapter, and the other one…when Nico feels like revealing his plans.**

 **Until then: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	8. A new hope for the kingdom

**DC: Shh…be quiet, guys. I have the next chapter here, but I need to be careful. I can´t let him find me, or I´m in trouble…**

 **N: There you are! Why didn´t you let me destroy them in the last chapter?!**

 **DC: Argh! Enjoy the chapter, guys! *runs away***

 **N: Come back here! *follows and fires spheres***

* * *

"Wait a second…did you just say _for now_?" Kamek asked Dr. Toadley.

"Indeed I did. Do I know a way to destroy the shield protecting Nico´s base? Certainly I do," he answered.

"Really?" Starlow exclaimed. If Toadley knew a way to break Nico´s defense, then they still could be able to stop the human. "Tell us, then," she ordered him.

"The only way to break this shield is using the Miracle Toadley Cure," Dr. Toadley said.

"Ummm…you know that Nicbot destroyed it, right?" Starlow reminded him.

"Can the Miracle Toadley Cure be destroyed? Yes it can. Can the Star Cures themselves be destroyed? No they can´t. When the robot destroyed it, the Star Cures were recreated somewhere in the kingdom. Is it your task to find them? Of course it is," the doctor explained.

"Is the Miracle Cure strong enough to blast through the shield?" Kamek asked.

"Maybe, but do I know how it will break without a doubt? Of course I do. Starlow, will you and Prince Dreambert be essential for this? I think you will," Toadley replied.

Everyone understood what he meant. Their love was strong enough to break through weak shields, and over time it could destroy small shields Nico created. If they fused their love beam with the beam the Miracle Cure could fire, it would be powerful enough to destroy a shield like the one protecting Nico right now.

"Fine, we have a plan, then. But how will we get into the castles?" she asked.

"Well…have I thought about that? Sadly, no," Toadley answered.

"I could try and bring you up there, but I bet he will shoot us out of the sky the second we are spotted," Kamek said.

"I think we know someone who can help us," someone interrupted them. They looked at Toadbert, who had spoken up. "What does it take to defeat a mastermind? Another mastermind, of course. We need Professor E. Gadd. He´ll be able to figure something out".

"That could be our best option. I´ll go and pick him up, while you collect the Star Cures once again," Kamek said, "but first we need to wake the other guys up".

Kamek managed to wake everyone up after five minutes. They didn´t want to waste any time, so he flew away after he was done. Dr. Toadley looked into his crystal ball in order to find the first Star Cure yet again. While he did that, Starlow updated everyone on how things have turned out and what they were going to do.

"Have I found the first Star Cure? Of course I have. Is it located in Toad Town Caves? Apparently it is," the doctor said after Starlow finished her explanation.

"Toad Town Caves? Is there anything we should be careful about?" Dreambert asked.

"Nico´s robots are looking for remaining inhabitants everywhere. Everyone who doesn´t accept him as the new ruler will be…convinced by them," Toadbert replied.

"This sounds awfully like what could have happened to Broque Monsieur…" Luigi said, shivering.

"Alright, we have no time to waste! Send us Birdley when you found the second Cure," Mario told Dr. Toadley and ran off into the direction of Cavi Cape.

The other ones quickly followed him, encouraged by their new plan that couldn´t fail this time. The power of the Miracle Cure and love together couldn´t be stopped.

They passed through Cavi Cape and arrived at Blubble Lake. After a few minutes of walking north, they arrived in Toad Town, where they entered a pipe leading into the caves beneath it. Nothing changed since they had been here the last time, except for the Fawflants to be gone. A few Noozes were the only things that lived down here.

Since the Dark Star had been stolen and destroyed, the only reason the caves still haven´t been closed was the water supply. The pumps bringing fresh water to Toad Town and Peach´s Castle were located here. The area was free of robots, so they were able to look for the desired object without any trouble.

They eventually arrived in the room where the Dark Star had been kept. Right on the spot where it had been, the red Star Cure lied on the pedestal. No traps, no robots. Just the sound of the floating water. They went up to it, and Mario took the Star Cure and put it into their inventory. Now they had to wait for Birdley to tell them what Dr. Toadley was able to find out.

* * *

Why was he unable to stay calm? He had a base that they couldn´t enter, everything was in place. He just had to wait until his machine was fully charged up. And still…there was this uneasiness. A feeling that something bad will happen. He wasn´t paranoid. He never was. It was like…some sort of whispering in his mind, which tried to warn him.

"What is it, Nico? You have been staring into the distance for several minutes now…" someone behind him asked.

"I don´t know. I feel like there is still something that could be a threat to my plan," the leader answered.

"Well…I don´t want to confirm you, but the four have left Plack Beach, as well as Kamek. It looks like he is leaving the kingdom for something, while they went to Toad Town," his friend said.

"…what? Have they…there is nothing left! I have taken care of every advantage they could possibly get!" Nico yelled.

"Maybe not. Is there something you could have forgotten? They are not doing this because they are desperate, and we both know that," he told Nico.

Nico thought about everything. There was nothing in the kingdom, except the Miracle Cure, that could destroy his shield, but Nicbot had destroyed it. Was there a way to recreate it?

"I need to go to the clinic. Toadley must have information about it," he said, and left his house. They had moved it up here together with the castles, and it was now attached to the tower of Peach´s Castle, behind the platform where Bowser had ultimately defeated the Dark Star. It served as the central control station for Nico, and only his friends and Nicbot could enter it besides him.

"He has either gone mad by now, or he is right about it…we will see," the other human mumbled.

Nico had no time to waste. He flew directly through his shield. It was his own, so why would it stop him? After a short flight, he landed in front of the clinic in Toad Town. The door was locked, but he simply shattered it into pieces. He entered the fortune telling room and started looking through books which were placed on a shelf.

After a few seconds, he found one that looked promising: "Ultimate cures for diseases. If everything else falls short, these are your saviours!"

He quickly looked into the book and searched what he wanted to find. The last article was what he wanted: "The Miracle Cure: Heals any disease, and is able to compete with the darkest powers. Use as last resort only. The Miracle Cure can be created by a psychic person. This person will need to fuse the three Star Cures into the Miracle Cure. The Miracle Cure can be destroyed with very strong blasts, which will lead into the recreation of the Star Cures somewhere in the kingdom. The Star Cures cannot be destroyed by any means."

The book slipped out of his hands, and he needed to sit down. The doctor knew it, and he did tell them, didn´t he? And he was able to locate the Star Cures. Nico felt…strange. The fear of failing, combined with the fact that they had an advantage now caused it. He hasn´t felt like this for a long time. But he knew what it was. Hate. Hate against the heroes who could have found a way to stop him.

He started raging, and sent destructive red spheres into every direction in order to try and calm down again. His insanity led to the destruction of the clinic, and the ceiling collapsed onto him. He passed out, and was found by his robots a few minutes later after his Jetback sent out an alarm.

They brought him back to his house, where his friends revived him. They were concerned about him. There weren´t many things that led Nico to insanity, which meant that he had found something he really didn´t like.

"So…how bad is it?" Marius asked.

"Tell Nicbot that he has to send every available robot after Dr. Toadley. Without him, they can´t do anything," Nico answered.

The other ones looked at each other, and tried to find a volunteer to bring him even worse news.

"About that," his other friend spoke up," it appears that everyone has left Plack Beach. We…have absolutely no idea where they are right now…"

Nico was completely silent. They knew that he was only a step away from annihilating everything in sight.

"We´ll find them faster than you can think of a new invention, you will see," Marius said, and they ran out of his house.

* * *

Mario and the rest left the caves via the pipe that leads to Toad Town Mall. They had heard noises and screaming from Nico even from the caves, so they decided to check on it. When they arrived at the clinic, they saw that it had been completely destroyed.

"It looks like it originated from here," Starlow said.

They walked through the debris and tried to find any valuable information. Dreambert spotted a book between the parts of the building. He read the open page, and quickly called his friends. What they saw wasn´t good. It was a page about the Miracle Cure. They had thought that they knew the screaming voice, but now they were certain: Nico did find out about their plan.

"FYI! FYI! Birdley brings news! Connecting to Dr. Toadley," Birdley told them, after it spotted the four in the ruins.

"This is Dr. Toadley. Have I found the location of the second Cure? Indeed I have. Has Nico found out about everything and destroyed my clinic? It seems like he did. Have we moved from Plack Beach to safety? Of course we have. The second Cure is in Cavi Cape. Should you hurry up before Nico finds you? I think you should," the doctor told them.

"Birdley returns to Dr. Toadley. Can´t tell you where he is. He needs to stay hidden. Good luck," Birdley said and flew away.

"Great. At least we already have one of them, so maybe we are faster than Nico. Come on, let´s go!" Mario said, and together they left Toad Town again.

* * *

 **I´m toast if Nico finds me now, but I felt the need to build that in. I somehow had to fill this chapter, as I didn´t want them to find the Cures right away. And showing a bit of what is going on with Nico seemed to be the best way. For me, at least.**

 **You will find out why Nico is acting the way he is. Just…not now, but rather in the end. Oh, and in the next chapter, I will bring in my other friend.**

 **Maybe this one isn´t that good, I´ll admit. But it was the best possible way for me to write this chapter.**

 **By the way, isn´t it strange that I seem only to be able to find positive reviews wherever I look? If you don´t like the story / a certain chapter, please feel free to tell me why. Just keep the review free of cursing and stuff like that, or I´ll report / delete it.**

 **Now that everything is said: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter.**


	9. Fighting another one, finding the Cures

**Chapter Nine, this will be fine. Still reading this, Madz? I some sort of miss your reviews here…not wanting to blame you, of course.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"We should hurry up. If Nico was so unhappy about our plan that he destroyed the clinic, I don´t want to find out what he will do next," Luigi suggested, and shivered with fear as the worst possible imaginations crossed his mind.

"Perhaps it was only the rage that gave him this amount of power," Dreambert said.

"Maybe. But for now, we need to focus on the Star Cures," Starlow replied.

Strangely enough, Nico´s robots were completely absent from Blubble Lake as well. Not a single one was there.

"Where are they? Doesn´t he want to stop us?" Dreambert wondered.

"Birdley said that Dr. Toadley needs to stay hidden. Maybe Nico is looking for him, so he can´t create the Miracle Cure for us," Luigi assumed.

"Yeah, that´d be smart. Let´s hope that he can´t find our favourite doctor," Starlow said.

They arrived in the area where Bowser had created a bridge out of a ship. They needed to pass it, but someone was blocking their path. Another human.

He was way taller than Nico, had brown, short hair as well, and wore a brown jacket and jeans. He didn´t wield energy swords like Marius did, but they spotted an energy rifle on his back. As soon as he spotted them, he took it into his hands. The gun was stored on his own Jetback, which placed a helmet that was connected to it on his head.

"Well…you made Nico really angry. The other ones are trying to find Dr. Toadley, but I will stop you right here. And if you ask yourself what my name is: call me Jonas. I am Nico´s most skilled fighter after himself and Nicbot. Don´t expect any mercy from me, because I´ll show you none," Jonas introduced himself, and aimed at them.

They got ready, and waited for their new foe to attack. His rifle was able to shoot at a high rate of fire, and when he first fired at them, they were caught off guard. They dodged most of the rays, but got hit by some. They noticed, however, that these rays were weaker than the ones from normal ray guns. This was like this because the rays can be fired way more often.

The rays didn´t weaken them severely, so they went for a counterattack. Mario and Luigi charged at him, continuously changing their course in order to throw his aim off. While they did that, Starlow and Dreambert fired a love beam at him. He got stunned by it, and the brothers positioned themselves to the left and right of him. They took their hammers out and started spinning, inflicting some damage on Jonas.

He managed to recover from the stunning effect and used the back end of his weapon to first hit Mario, then Luigi in the head, which caused them to stop in their actions. He then pulled back behind the plumbers, and the couple had to stop the beam. They recovered from the hit they´ve taken and continued to attack Jonas. He used his weapon to block the hits from Mario, while he took out a small energy blade to fight off Luigi.

He didn´t seem to be the best melee fighter, as they were slowly able to push him back. Jonas rolled backwards and threw a white ball on the ground. It exploded and created a very bright flash, which momentarily blinded them. He used this moment to pull back further, until there was a comfortable distance between them.

He then continued firing at the heroes, but he had to stop every now and then because his weapon was about to overheat. The heroes used these short breaks to attack or heal, depending which was more important. At one point, Jonas threw a red ball towards them. It started beeping, and they managed to run away from it in time before it exploded.

"You can´t dodge forever. Give up now, and I might not destroy you," he said.

"Really? Before that happens, Bowser stops kidnapping Princess Peach," Starlow replied.

They dodged more rays, and tried something different when he had to pause again. Mario and Luigi both grabbed hold on Starlow, who flew up above Jonas. Mario and Luigi stomped onto him, causing him to get dizzy. Starlow and Dreambert then fired another beam at him, and Mario and Luigi kept hammering him into the ground until he completely disappeared in it.

A few seconds later, the ground exploded where he had been. He had used a bomb to free himself, only to be attacked by Starlow and Dreambert with a diving attack. This combo had caused severe damage, but he threw a green ball right next to him. Green mist came out of it, healing most of the damage he had taken.

"Luck is on your side, huh? Nico should try and find a way to stop this thing from overheating…" Jonas said, just to attack once more.

His Jetback opened itself, and a robotic arm started to throw more bombs at them. Mario got hit by one, and the impact of it knocked the red plumber out. Starlow and Dreambert flew towards Jonas in order to distract him, while Luigi would revive Mario. He fired at the two, but they evaded his shots. Sometimes they would try and dive into him, but he wasn´t that stupid to let them hit him.

Luigi fed Mario a 1-Up Mushroom, which revived the fallen brother. Jonas was still busy with the couple, so they took out a Slingsniper. Mario lined Luigi up, who they used as ammo yet again. After Mario aimed correctly and pulled Luigi back far enough, he let his brother go. The green plumber flew towards Jonas and hit the unaware fighter.

Jonas was thrown to the ground because of the impact, which everyone used to strike him with blow after blow. His Jetback noticed his critical health state, and created a shockwave around him. The four heroes got knocked back by it, which allowed the Jetback to bring Jonas up into the air. He was heavily injured, and it was obvious that he couldn´t win a fight against them on his own.

"Fine, you´ve won this round. But don´t get cocky. We´ll have a rematch, and then you are doomed," he managed to say. Jonas then flew off into the direction of the castles, which were flying above Toad Town.

"That guy sure is durable," Starlow had to admit.

"I wonder if Nico is that durable as well or if he just relies on his magic to keep damage away from him…" Dreambert said.

"I don´t know. Let us concentrate on the Star Cures for now," Mario suggested, and they travelled south.

They eventually arrived at Cavi Cape, where they searched the Star Cure in every area. It wasn´t located in the eastern part of it, so they started to go west. It wasn´t located in the southernmost area, and after looking in every place outside of the cave, they entered it.

They looked around, until they finally found the curative in the room where Bowser had woken up after he fell for Fawful´s first trap. They picked it up and stored it away. Two curatives down, one more to go. They decided to go to the exit of Cavi Cape again, where they would wait for Birdley to arrive.

After they arrived there, they sat down and got to think about everything for the first time. They reviewed on their adventure up until now, and discussed strategies on how to take Nico down.

"He seems to be prepared for almost everything. His Jetback will move him out of danger if anyone tries to catch him off guard," Luigi started.

"His shields are very durable, the love beam takes a while to break through them," Starlow added.

"His magic attacks consist of different types: stunning, knocking someone out, homing attacks, knockback, and even destruction," Dreambert added.

"And his close combat skills are really impressive. He can hold out against both of us with just one blade. Not to forget, he has situational awareness in battle," Mario ended.

"So…this guy is pretty much invulnerable for us?" Luigi asked.

"No. You guys need to force his attention on you, so Dreambert and I can strike him. And if his Jetback brings him up into the air, you throw something at him. He won´t be able to dodge for eternity, and once we get him, you have to make sure that you get him good. Once he frees himself, it might take even longer until we can damage him again," Starlow explained her plan.

"And while all of this happens, we are not allowed to get hit by him," Luigi added to the plan.

"Maybe we could use the homing spheres to our advantage, so they hit him instead of us. We could also try to knock his spheres back to him," Mario said.

"FYI! FYI! Birdley has important information!" they heard a familiar voice say. Birdley entered the room and flew around in it.

"FYI! FYI! Connecting to Dr. Toadley now!" Birdley told them.

"Hello? This is Dr. Toadley. Have you guys found the second curative? Of course you have. Did I manage to locate the last one? Indeed I did. Do you need to find it in Bumpsy Plains? It looks like it. Birdley will tell you where to find me after you got it. Oh, and is Professor E. Gadd here as well? He is. Does he try to find a way to get you up there? You can bet that he does," the doctor told them.

"FYI! FYI! Birdley wishes you luck," the little bird told them, and then flew away.

"So it is up to us to find the last curative," Mario said and stood up.

"And it is up to the professor to find a way into the castle. One that doesn´t get us shattered into little scraps," Starlow added.

"I bet there will be that 0.000000000001% chance of failing, won´t there?" Luigi said.

Together, they arrived at Plack Beach yet again. The area was free of robots, so they managed to pass through it quite fast. They still had to take the long way around, of course, since Nico had destroyed a large part of the beach. It took them a few minutes until they reached Dimble Woods.

The forest wasn´t free of robots. In fact, it looked like almost every robot Nico owned was here. There was no way they could battle through all of them, so they decided to do something sneaky. Mario and Luigi drilled themselves into the ground, while Starlow and Dreambert flew above the lower leaves.

They were really slow using this strategy, but they didn´t have a better option at hand. The fact that Nicbot had completely changed the pathing didn´t help them at all. When there weren´t any leaves to cover the couple, the just flew high enough that they couldn´t be spotted.

It took them about thirty minutes to reach the end of Dimble Woods, where the brothers emerged from the ground again.

"This is time consuming, but still better than being beaten up by all of these robots," Dreambert said when they passed through the gate.

"Let´s hope that there aren´t more of them up ahead," Luigi said, annoyed by the robots.

There were only a few of them, and they managed to avoid the machines. After searching for a bit, they found the curative floating in the water. Starlow levitated it out of the water and stored it in their inventory. This completed their task, which meant that they had to find Dr. Toadley next. They decided to hide next to the water and wait for Birdley to arrive.

"Hopefully they haven´t found them…" Mario whispered.

* * *

 **That settles things for this chapter. They have found every Star Cure, so all they have to do now is to create the Miracle Cure and blast Nico´s shield away. Looks like we are closing in on the end, but don´t worry: I still have some plans for this.**

 **Oh, and to the guest who reviewed: interesting theory, I wonder if it will turn out to be like that…I won´t spoil anything.**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	10. The factory of the evil guys

**Expecting breaking into the castles now? Well…no. That will be the next chapter.**

 _ **But what will happen in this chapter, then?**_

 **Well, let´s just say…someone will run out of reinforcements. Enjoy!**

* * *

"FYI! FYI! Birdley brings news!" the little bird tweeted. It landed between the four heroes and opened a connection to Dr. Toadley.

"Have you guys done a great job so far? Of course you have. Will you follow Birdley to our hiding spot? Indeed you will," the doctor said.

"FYI! FYI! Birdley will guide you to Dr. Toadley," Birdley told them, and started flying towards Dimble Woods again.

"I wonder where we will find them," Luigi said, and they quickly followed the bird.

They snuck by the robots patrolling through Bumpsy Plains and arrived at the forest. It looked like the robots searched another area now, as there were only a few of them this time around. Birdley led them to Wiggler´s farm, and stopped where the Giga-carrot had been grown. A Wiggler stood there, and upon seeing them, he walked into the hole.

A few seconds later, their friends climbed out of the hole. Everyone was relieved to see each other again, but they knew that the most important task was yet to be completed. Professor E. Gadd was the first one to speak up.

"Ah, so we meet each other yet again, Mario and Luigi. I guess that Star Sprite over there is Starlow, and the one next to her must be Prince Dreambert. I am Professor Elvin Gadd, and I helped these two plumbers on some of their adventures," he introduced himself to them.

"Nice to see you again, Professor. Have you found a solution to our problem?" Mario asked.

"Yes, I think I have a plan. Listen up! I need to scoop out the innards of two robots, so you can hide in them. I will then control them remotely and bring you up to Nico. The problem is: we need two robots to do that, and they are not allowed to be severely damaged. If you defeat them, they´ll explode. And the robots will battle you until you beat them," he explained.

"So…how are we going to do that?" Starlow wanted to know.

"I have analysed every available data, and it looks like the robots come from Blubble Lake. I have performed a scan of the area, and it seems like there is a facility beyond the water. I have located an entrance near the shore, so if you take some fins, you should be able to reach it. This facility appears to be Nico´s robot factory, which explains why they have to work underwater. Break in there and secure two robots, then we can proceed," he told them.

"While you are at it: blow the factory up after you have secured the desired resources. He seems to produce his weapons there as well, so you should be able to find some bombs down there. It will also serve as a distraction, because we will need some time to break the shield. If you manage to blow the factory up, you need to come to us immediately. They should be too distracted to stop us from blasting the shield away," Toadbert added.

"Once they´ve noticed you, they´ll throw everything they have against you. Nico needs this factory, and it will be a great loss for him if you blow it up," E. Gadd said.

"Should we create the Miracle Toadley Cure first? I think we should," Dr. Toadley spoke up.

Mario handed him the three Star Cures, and the doctor focused. The curatives flew up above him, and slowly merged into their only hope. The Miracle Cure was formed yet again.

"It´s great to see that we have it back," Luigi said after Dr. Toadley was done.

"Yes, but we are not done yet. We still need to destroy the shield, and without the modified robots we can forget everything," Dreambert reminded him.

"We are going to hide in Broque Madame´s house, while you do your thing down in the factory," Toadbert told them.

"Alright, we know what we have to do. Come on, guys! Let´s stop Nico once and for all!" Starlow said, determined to stop their enemy.

"Ugh, we need to walk the entire way back to Blubble Lake again?" Luigi complained.

"Wait a second…Starlow? Couldn´t you just fly us over the destroyed path?" Mario asked the Star Sprite.

Everyone slapped their hands onto their face in realisation. Why haven´t they thought about that earlier?

"I can´t believe that this didn´t cross our mind until now," Starlow mumbled in disbelief.

"Well…at least we thought of it now," Luigi said.

"Fine, so the short way we take then," Dreambert added.

E. Gadd handed Mario and Luigi a pair of fins each and the coordinates of the entrance, as well as a self-made detonator.

"I doubt that you can simply open the entrance. There should be a flooding-prevention system, since that thing is underwater. Blow the entrance away and enter quickly, that way you should be able to get in," E. Gadd told them.

The four heroes went off and reached the destroyed path a few minutes later. There, Starlow flew Mario and Luigi to the other side. They walked to the wooden bridge again, where Professor E. Gadd had located the entrance to the facility. Mario and Luigi put the fins on, and decided to search the entrance first.

They jumped into the water and swam to the ground. After a few seconds of looking, they found a hatch in the ground. They returned to the surface in order to tell their friends and get some air again. Mario took out the detonator, and together they jumped in yet again. Starlow and Dreambert grabbed hold on the brothers, who quickly swam to the hatch again. There, they placed the detonator and armed it.

After they had enough distance between the device and them, it exploded and destroyed the hatch. The four moved towards the entrance and swam through it, only a few seconds before it got sealed by a force field. Inside, a loud alarm could be heard.

"ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDERS ENTERED THROUGH HATCH 2! ALERT! ALERT!" an automated system announced.

A surveillance camera was placed in a corner, and as soon as they stepped in the field of view of it, it projected a hologram of Nicbot in front of them.

"If that aren´t the four heroes who want to stop my master. Look, I´ve been playing with you for a long time now, but this is where the fun stops. First you make Nico angry, and then you try to stop the production in my factory? Nico has given me control over this place, and if you think that I will let you ruin everything here, you are wrong," he said. Nicbot sounded very angry for the first time.

"Try and do something about it," Starlow challenged the robot.

"Oh, believe me, I will do something. And because I know that the robots are pretty useless against you, I´ll take care of you by myself," he replied and ended the conversation.

"Does that mean we can finally beat him up?" Dreambert asked.

"I hope so," Mario answered.

The entrance area was nothing more than a small room with the hatch and another door. They proceeded through the door and entered a large fabrication hall. There were three conveyor belts, and on each one of them, robots were built by automated arms. At the end of them, magnets picked the finished robots up and lifted them through a hole into another room.

At the far end of the room, there was another door. They walked through the hall and went through it. Now they were in another big hall, but it was mostly empty. On the top of one wall, there seemed to be the control room built in it. It was a room with windows to look into this hall. That was where Nicbot stood. On the other side of the room, a door with the sign "Fabrication Hall 02 + Hatch 01" written above it could be seen. On the wall to the right, there was a door with the sign "Storage".

"I have to admit, I would have never expected you to come here. The factory was a well-kept secret, and the robots have been released from an unseen spot. It doesn´t matter now, does it? I don´t know what it takes to make you give up…" Nicbot said, and jumped through the window into the hall, "…but I will make sure that your adventure ends right here."

"We don´t think so. You will go down with a Big Bang. And we will Never Let Up," Starlow yelled ( **Those are the Boss Battle Themes from PJ and DT** ).

Nicbot activated his thrusters and started hovering. He then flew up high and transformed his hand into his energy launcher. Energy missiles came from it and flew at the heroes. Mario and Luigi hammered a few of them back and dodged the other ones. Nicbot evaded the returning projectiles and kept firing at them, until Mario hit a missile that the robot couldn´t evade. It struck him, and he landed on the ground again, almost unharmed.

"Did you really think Nico would equip me with weapons that could be dangerous to me? He was careful when he created me," he told them.

Mario and Luigi now attacked, and took their hammers out. The robot´s response was shifting his other hand into a blade, and he waited for them. Starlow and Dreambert tried and fired a love beam at him, but he dodged it. Mario and Luigi now went in for close combat, and were able to push him back at first. But this was only because he transformed his launcher into a normal hand again. A ray gun built into his wrist appeared, and he shot Luigi with it. The green plumber passed out immediately, and Mario was lucky to dodge another shot. Nicbot focused on Mario, and it was obvious that he couldn´t keep up with the robot for long.

Mario blocked the hits Nicbot sent at him and somehow either dodged the rays or blocked them as well. Starlow and Dreambert rushed towards Luigi and fed him a 1-Up Mushroom and left a Syrup Jar for him as well. They then fired a love beam at the robot, who got hit by it. Mario hurried over to them and recovered from the barrage the robot had thrown at him.

Nicbot´s body created a shield around him and blocked the beam with it. He aimed at the couple, and after flying into the air, he fired several rays at them. They dodged them, and Mario and Luigi kicked a green shell into his head. The robot tumbled onto the ground, and they started stomping onto him. Nicbot quickly recovered and started spinning, hitting both brothers with the blade in the process.

They got severely weakened, but before he could send them unconscious, Starlow spun into him. It didn´t damage him, but distracted him just long enough for the brothers to pull back and drink some more Syrup. It didn´t fully restore them, but they were able to fight again. Nicbot decided to wait and let them attack first, so he could counterattack.

"You are tough guys, aren´t you? But you still are no match for me," he taunted them.

"Really? Then have some of this," Dreambert said, and Mario grabbed hold onto Starlow.

She and Dreambert flew up and began hovering towards Nicbot, who aimed at them and got ready. What he didn´t see coming was Luigi running up to him and hitting him with an uppercut. The robot was sent flying, and Mario let the Star Sprite go. Nicbot flew in front of him, and he hammered him onto the ground, where Luigi waited and sent him flying into a wall. Starlow and Dreambert then dove into him, but this time they aimed for his head.

The impact caused some greater damage to the fighter, who was completely disoriented. He got up and flew up into the air again. He moved towards a wall, which revealed a repairing station. He docked onto it and created a force field around it. Four ray gun turrets emerged from the ceiling and the floor, and started firing at the heroes.

Mario threw his hammer at one on the bottom, while Luigi stomped the other one into pieces. The ones on the ceiling were a greater problem, and they continuously fired at Starlow and Dreambert, which prevented them from shooting a love beam.

"Dreambert, I have an idea!" the Star Sprite shouted after some time. "Fly up, they are lined up perfectly!"

They flew up towards the turrets, and created a love ray between the two of them. The turrets were lined up between them, and got destroyed by the new ray. They then focused their love on Nicbot, who noticed his shield getting weaker. He undocked from the station and returned to the ground again.

"Ugh…I hate it when enemies are persistent," an annoyed Nicbot told them.

He formed both of his hands into energy launchers and started firing missiles at them again. At one point, he created a smoke screen around him. All of a sudden, he ran out of it with two energy blades instead of launchers now. He started attacking the brothers, who fought back. They all moved around, and nobody seemed to have the upper hand.

Nicbot eventually performed a backflip and landed near the other two. He dashed towards Dreambert and hit him with two strikes. The Pi'illo Prince fell on the ground, unconscious. He then turned his attention to Starlow, who quickly hovered behind the brothers. Nicbot engaged them again, and was busy trying to break through Mario and Luigi´s defense.

He didn´t notice Starlow levitating Dreambert´s body above him, and brought him down next to her. She gave him a 1-Up as well, and they quickly returned to the fight. Nicbot noticed the couple and flew up again, where he switched his left hand into a launcher again. As he was about to fire, Mario kicked a red shell directly into it. It blocked the launcher, and the robot already tried to fire.

"No! What have you done? That thing will…" he yelled, before the launcher exploded.

The explosion sent him flying against another wall, where he slowly got up again. He now looked seriously damaged, and decided to leave things for now. But not without paying them back.

"Ouch…that stings. You have won this match, but you didn´t win in total," the robot said.

"WARNING: FLOODING-PREVENTION SYSTEM MANUALLY DISABLED," a system voice announced.

He then transformed his other hands into an energy launcher and aimed at the ceiling. They realised what he tried to do, and he fired missiles at it. The ceiling broke, and the factory started to flood.

"Everything here can work underwater for a few hours, but I´ve heard that guys like you only do that for a few minutes. So have fun in your grave!" he shouted at them, and left the factory through the hole he created.

"Quick! The bombs, the robots and then let´s get out of here!" Starlow yelled.

They ran towards the storage and found robots and weapons there. Luigi and Dreambert gathered some bombs, and Mario and Starlow brought two robots out. They went towards the other hatch, where they waited for the other two. A series of explosions shook the building, and Luigi and Dreambert entered the entrance room a few seconds later.

"We have blown up the robot fabrication, but there are bombs in the weapon production hall as well. We need to get out of here now!" Dreambert yelled, and they opened the hatch.

Water started coming in, and they moved the robots out of the facility. They left it, and brought the machines to the surface. They quickly swam to the shore, and upon arriving there, a huge explosion created a massive wave in the water, which sent everyone onto the shore.

"Did…we do it?" Luigi asked.

"The bombs produced there detonated as well, so I think that factory is history," Dreambert said.

They looked at each other, then at the robots. They had done it. Nico couldn´t produce more robots, and they had the robots E. Gadd needed. They were only a step away from confronting Nico.

They hugged each other, relieved that they were alright.

* * *

 **Ugh…I wrote most of that in a few hours. I had to do that, because school starts tomorrow again. I won´t be able to upload as frequently as I am doing now. I´ll try to bring out new chapters on Saturdays or Sundays.**

 **Alright, Nico is out of reinforcements. Now they just need to get up there and confront him. But…will they be able to beat him? And what about Marius, Jonas and Nicbot?**

 **Have these questions answered soon.**

 **Until then: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	11. The lion's lair

" **Did someone page the bird of awesome? " Oh my god, I almost died from laughing when I read that. Except…my mood was brought down by the fact that it was 6 AM and I had to go to school again. Dammit.**

 **Why should you sound too critical, Madz? It was your honest opinion, and I even asked for it. I prefer people being honest and giving me criticism when they feel like there is the need for some. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this story.**

 **Now, about the character issue: I think I know why this could be a thing. Because that is how we know them from the series. I mean, I guess it would be funnier if I kept Alphadream´s original concept, but I some sort of felt like shifting their personality for this story. And about Dreambert: I think he is fine with new technology, because they have some pretty impressive technology as well… *looks at Pi'illodium***

 **In the beginning, Nico really looked a bit invulnerable. However, I didn´t want him to BE overpowered. He´s just a guy who is more powerful than others, while he still has his flaws and pays for the mistakes he makes, just like everyone else.**

 **I think I´ll go back to Alphadream´s personalities in the next story, and then we´ll see where that goes.**

 **About the story: I guess you are right…but hey, at least you still like it, as well as some other guys around here. I have a plan for a sequel in mind, so I´ll try to remember that there. Thanks for your offer, by the way. I´ll think about it. I won´t make any promises, though.**

 _ **Really? A sequel? That won´t be good…**_

 **So? I can write whatever I want (while I still follow the rules), and the plan I have doesn´t look too bad in my opinion. I´ll write that eventually, and then we´ll see how it turns out.**

 _ **Can you stop talking and give us the story?**_

 **Right, I´ve been rambling for too long again. Thanks again, Madz, same to all of you guys who reviewed and liked this story so far as well.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Sometimes, the only thing Nico could do was going out of his mind for a certain amount of time. During these times, it was best to stay away from him, for safety reasons. This time, he couldn´t calm down with just raging around and doing things he´d never do under normal circumstances. The four heroes, or "more than annoying obstacles", as he sometimes called them, had not only destroyed his factory, but also almost destroyed the work he had spent a year on.

Luckily, for everyone, Nicbot just got badly damaged. Nico managed to repair everything (expect for his pride). But now, he had to unleash the feelings he had. And since he didn´t want to destroy his own base, he sent his destruction orbs down at Toad Town. He was careful not to miss a building, and soon the town looked like an entire war had been fought there. The houses were not completely destroyed, but the repairs would take forever to perform.

Nico calmed down and was finally able to think straight again. He had to plan what he was going to do now. He knew that he couldn´t save his shield. The robots were useless against the heroes, and his friends and Nicbot were lucky to not have been defeated. And he had to maintain his machine…the machine that would finally give him full control over everyone in this kingdom.

"But if they come up here, I can´t hit them with it. Wait…that is just nonsense! How do they want to get up here without us noticing them closing in? We´d annihilate them mid-air. I´m still save up here…they haven´t thought that far," Nico thought, while he stared into the distance.

His earpiece told him about a warning of his machine. He re-entered his house and typed a few commands on his computer. The warning disappeared.

"I am still going to reach my goal, and I´ll use any means necessary to do that," he continued his thoughts, and then a grin crossed his face.

"I won´t fail now. You are not going to see me lose, and then I´ll laugh at you. I told you, eventually I´ll be at the very top of something. And this something is going to be a whole kingdom. The kingdom the Mario Bros. defend every single time someone tries to take it over. But I´ll get them out of the way. Out of my way. And I´ll do it my way," he said, and looked into a certain direction. The direction where he had come from. One day, he would rule the area there as well. It´d be just a matter of time.

* * *

They had no time to waste. Mario and Luigi dragged the robots with them, and Starlow and Dreambert already flew ahead to tell everyone about their success. Professor E. Gadd and Dr. Toadley waited in front of Broque Madame´s house, and they seemed to be pretty upset. When they were close enough for communication, Toadley spoke up.

"Are you guys incredible? Of course you are! Are we only a few steps away from victory? I think so. However, has Nico turned Toad Town into a ruin? I am afraid that he has," he said, and looked into the direction of their beloved town.

"Hey, you two! Bring these robots in, so I can start working!" E. Gadd told them, so they took the robots and placed them inside the house.

When they left it again, they saw that Starlow and Dreambert had returned. They had been in Toad Town in order to look at the damage that Nico had caused, as well as to find some items.

"He has attacked every building there, that will take several months to repair…and we couldn´t find more items. We still have some left, but I doubt that they will be enough," Starlow reported to the doctor.

"Have I thought about this possibility? Indeed I have. Should you take the Miracle Toadley Cure with you? I think you should. It will resurrect you guys with full power if you need it," Dr. Toadley replied.

"Really? Thank you, you don´t know much of a help that will be," Dreambert said.

"I do know, but should we destroy the shield now?" he asked, but before he could answer his own question, the couple answered "Of course we should".

Dr. Toadley took out the Miracle Cure and placed it in front of them. Mario took it and held it up high, aiming at the shield protecting Nico. After a few moments, a beam emerged from it and started digging into the shield. Starlow and Dreambert now focused on their love and fired their own beam at the Miracle Cure. As soon as it hit it, the item started to change. It formed into a heart-shaped Miracle Cure, and now the beam was white.

After some seconds, white cracks started to appear on the shield. They slowly grew bigger, until the whole barrier was filled with them. The Miracle Cure fired one large white orb, which was the end of the beam. As soon as it struck Nico´s defense, the shield shattered. Now all they had to do was get up to the castles and defeat Nico. The Miracle Cure transformed back into its original state.

Everyone cheered, because their plan worked out so far. Up next was E. Gadd, who walked out of the building after a few minutes.

"Excellent. I´m done with the modifications, so you can go up there whenever you want. I´ll bring you guys as close as possible to Bowser´s Throne Room, because I have located the antenna that sends all orders to Nico´s robots there. If you can destroy it, he won´t be able to use his remaining robots anymore," he told them.

"Will it disable Nicbot as well?" Luigi asked.

"I honestly don´t know, but it seems like he can operate independently. I doubt that Nico designed him to rely on something like that," E. Gadd replied.

"I guess it´ll be good enough if his robots to stay inactive. Is everyone ready? We have a few humans and a robot to stop," Mario said.

Dr. Toadley handed him the Miracle Cure, and they checked their items one last time. They had some Candy for emergencies, as well as some Mushrooms, Syrup Jars and 1-Ups. It wasn´t much, but it had to be enough. The Miracle Cure was a wonderful addition, because they now had an unfair advantage in battles. On the other hand, you never knew what tricks Nico had in store.

"I think we are ready, Professor," Starlow said after they checked on everything.

"Fine, please follow me," E. Gadd answered and entered the building.

"Will you guys be successful? Of course you will. Should you still be careful? Indeed you should," Toadley told them.

"Thanks, Dr. Toadley," Dreambert replied, and together they entered the building.

E. Gadd stood next to the two robots, which had their front opened. Inside of them was just enough space to fit one brother and either Starlow or Dreambert in.

"Alright, Mario and Dreambert will go into one robot, while Luigi and Starlow enter the other one. Once you are in there, I´ll close the front again and start controlling the thrusters. If my calculations are correct, there is only a 0.000000000001% chance of failing," he told them.

"Told you that it´d be like that," Luigi whispered.

They entered the robots, the brothers in the lower part and Starlow and Dreambert in the part with the head. E. Gadd closed the robots again and took out a remote control. He pressed some buttons, and then used a joystick. The robots started hovering above the ground. He put the control aside and attached binoculars to his glasses, so he could steer them when they would be too far away to see the heroes without them.

He picked the remote up again and steered them out of the house. There, he let them fly up high into the direction of the castles. In the distance, robots could be seen flying to the fortress. Nico must have called all of his robots up there to defend him. After a few minutes, they reached Bowser´s Castle. The robot landed on the balcony, where E. Gadd remotely opened the robots. The four of them left their disguise and looked around.

Robots were flying around the castles, but nobody seemed to expect them up here. Ready to stop Nico, they entered Bowser´s Throne Room. It didn´t change much, except for a device with an antenna next to the main computer in the room. The computer and device were protected by a force field, but Starlow and Dreambert would be able to break through it. The computer was managed by Marius, who was busy looking at the display and eating chocolate.

He didn´t notice them, so they snuck towards the field. If they fired at it, he would notice them and raise the alarm, but attacking him was impossible. They didn´t need to worry about that problem, however, because the alarm suddenly went off. Marius raised his head in surprise, and was so shocked to see them that his chair fell over, together with him.

"Whoaaah! What are YOU doing here?!" he yelled after he recovered from his fall.

His earpiece activated, and someone told him something.

"Yes, I´ve noticed them. Because they are RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!" he shouted. He then faced them.

"I don´t know how you got here, but this was your last mistake. I know that I can´t take you down on my own, but who said that I have to fight alone?" he said with a grin.

"Guys, I think we will have guests here. Get rid of that shield!" Mario told them, and together with Luigi he prepared to face any reinforcements.

Starlow and Dreambert fired at the shield, but it was quite strong. It would take them a few minutes to break it. Robots started entering the room, and Mario and Luigi welcomed them with a Bomb Derby attack. The robots went down, but those who got destroyed were quickly replaced by new ones. Luigi took a green shell and kicked it towards the row of enemies. Robot after robot sank to the ground, but no matter how many they got, even more robots took their places.

The robots eventually were able to open fire, and now the brothers were busy dodging the rays. This allowed even more of them to enter the room, and soon an entire army stood against them. Starlow and Dreambert were almost through, but their time was running out rapidly. The brothers were cornered between the robots and the shield.

"Look up," a faint voice in Mario´s mind told him. It sounded like the voice from…no, that was impossible.

Mario looked up, and saw a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The chain fixing it to the ceiling was rusty, and should break from a strong impact. He took his hammer and threw it at the chain, which broke and let the chandelier fall on a large group of robots.

"We did it!" Starlow yelled, and the shield shattered.

"Oh no, you won´t do that," Marius said, and activated his swords. He jumped in front of the machine, but he couldn´t stop all of them at once. Mario and Luigi attacked him, and the couple fired a beam at the device. Soon, sparks appeared everywhere on it. Marius knew that the robots were of no use anymore, so he disengaged from the brothers and ran through the army of robots.

The device finally exploded, and the robots instantaneously stopped doing anything. They then shut themselves down, which put Nico´s troops out of order. Mario, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert were confident. They could stop Nico, but he still had his friends and maybe Nicbot on his side. Before they could take on the leader, they had to get his best fighters out of the way. But maybe, with the Miracle Cure, they could take on all of them.

"YOU!" a voice shouted. A drone projected a hologram of Nico. "You destroy my factory. You almost destroyed my best creation. You are getting in my way again and again. And now you think you can beat me up here? I´m almost done with my plan, all I have to do is to wait. But now I need to get you out of here. Look for me on the tower of Peach´s Castle, we´ll settle things there once and for all," he said, and looked really angry. The conversation ended.

"He´s pretty unhappy about us being here, huh?" Luigi asked.

"Hopefully. Come on, the final battles await," Mario replied.

They left the room and made it to the main gate of Bowser´s Castle. There, a bridge connected both castles. They went over it and entered Peach´s Castle, ready to face the remaining foes.

* * *

 **I originally intended to put the upcoming fight in here as well, but then I realised how much I wrote here. So, I guess that fight will be its own chapter, as well as the finale. I think you can expect about 3 more chapters to come out: the next fight, the final battle and the end of this story.**

 **I think you know the drill by now, but I´ll say it anyways: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	12. A fight they can't win

**I managed to get some writing done over the week. Hooray!**

 **Only one obstacle stands between Nico and our four heroes: his very own Elite Trio, or his friends and robot. And in this chapter, Mario, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert will try to beat them.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Almost…it wouldn´t take much longer for his machine to be powered up. It sure needed a lot of power in order to affect a whole kingdom, but he hated waiting. And now these four guys were here to stop him. He still had one thing in store for them, however: his trusted friends and Nicbot. They would end them, they couldn't lose if these three teamed up against his enemies. He simply had to sit back, relax and maintain his machine.

It was at this point that a sudden sadness struck him. He reached into his jacket´s pocket and took a photo out of it. Nico stared at it, and tears started to fill his eyes. Why did he leave them? Why did he abuse the people that actually liked him? No matter how this ended, in the end he would be alone. He couldn´t go back anymore.

He shook his head. He had to keep control, or this would end in a disaster. If HE regained some control…Nico didn´t even want to think about it. He had to stay superior. He let the photo go, and the wind brought it to the direction of the tower. It flew into it and tumbled to the ground of the tower. The photo had several people on it, Nico between a few young humans. Two older people stood in the back, a man and a woman. All the humans next to him were the people he had loved the most, before he went his own way. His family.

* * *

"How much work did he put into this?" Starlow asked as they looked around. Nico had changed the interior to his likings. Every Mushroom on the floor or the walls had glasses now, and the statues of Peach were replaced by statues of Nico and his friends, even one where he stood above the four defeated heroes. Additionally, the walls were painted blue now.

"Looks like he finally found a place where his ego fits in," Dreambert assumed.

"Or the one of Nicbot," Luigi replied.

They wandered north and entered the Throne Room. The throne had been moved to the side, so one could enter the tower. And the tower was where Nico wanted to end everything. They had items and the Miracle Cure, so they had an advantage over him.

"Ready?" Mario asked the rest of the group.

"Ready," they replied.

They stepped through the entrance and kept on walking, until they reached the big room at the bottom of the tower. Nobody was there, and the only thing they could see was something lying on the ground. Not wanting to run into a trap, Starlow levitated the object towards them. It was a photo. They looked at it, and were surprised from what they saw.

"Is that what I think it is?" Luigi asked.

"I think so. That looks like his family," Starlow replied.

"He looks so happy between them," Dreambert said.

"What could have possibly happened to make him leave them?" Mario wondered.

"The past of my master is none of your business. What matters now is the fact that you will be destroyed," a familiar voice said.

They looked up, and saw Nicbot landing on the ground. He had been repaired, but he probably didn´t forget about what happened at the factory. Marius and Jonas entered the room through the doors on the left and right. They both had a Jetback, and looked at them confidently.

"You have come far, but this will be your last fight. Nicbot and I still want to pay back for our first battles," Jonas added.

"And if we three fight together, you don´t stand a chance," Marius ended.

Marius activated his swords, Jonas got his rifle ready and Nicbot transformed his hands into his launchers. The Jetbacks created two shields around Nicbot. Starlow and Dreambert could break through them, but it would take some time and leave them vulnerable.

"See how we can work together? That isn´t everything, of course. And since these Jetbacks operate as long as my colleagues here are up…you can´t hurt me! This is a fight you can´t win, and surrendering isn´t an option anymore. You can do two things now: either you let us wipe you out quickly, which would take away the fun, or you go down fighting," Nicbot told them. They took battle stance, and waited for the four heroes.

"They´re Pretty Tough, Should We be Careful!? This might be our greatest challenge yet," Luigi nervously said. Fighting one of them was hard enough, but all of them at once? ( **And now I´ve built in the Boss Battle Theme from BiS. I always find a way to do something like that)**

"We still have an ace up our sleeves," Dreambert quietly remembered him.

"Option three: we will defeat Marius and Jonas, and then kick your **bott** ," Starlow yelled at them. Mario, Luigi and Dreambert couldn´t help but chuckle at her pun. Even the two enemy humans had a faint smile on their faces.

"Wow…you should keep that **Star low** , puns like these are terrible," Nicbot replied. This time, Marius and Jonas had to laugh. ( **I´m sorry…** )

"Ugh…for that pun, we are going to dismantle you," Mario said. They took battle stance as well.

"Try if you mind, losers," Nicbot challenged them and activated his thrusters. Jonas flew up into the air as well, while Marius stayed on the ground.

Nicbot sent missiles flying towards them, which they dodged or sent back to his friends. The humans evaded the counterattacks and got ready as well. Jonas started firing at Mario and Luigi, and Marius ran towards Starlow and Dreambert.

The couple couldn´t shoot a love beam at him, however, because Nicbot kept on firing at everyone. If they wanted to deal with the humans, they would have to get that robot out of the way for some time. Starlow looked around, and found a part of the wall above the robot with cracks in it.

"Mario! Luigi! Cracks in the wall!" she shouted at the two plumbers. They looked at the wall and saw what she meant.

Starlow and Dreambert started dodging the swings from Marius, as he was close enough now. They dropped to the ground, scooted away or flew higher to evade his attacks. He was fast, so they only narrowly managed to not get hit by either him or Nicbot. Dreambert had an idea.

He changed his position and waited for the robot to fire at him. He then directed Marius towards the impact location of the missile, and the human fell for his trap. As he was about to strike the Pi'illo, the projectile hit him. Marius was sent flying over the couple, and he crash-landed in one of the walls. The human was still able to fight, though.

"Do you think something like that simply puts me down? I´ll show you how much I can take," he shouted at them and started running towards the couple again.

While this was happening, Mario and Luigi tried to stop the barrage of projectiles flying towards everyone. Luckily for them, Jonas´ weapon still had the overheating problem, so he had to stop firing every now and then. They used these times to hit the missiles back to Nicbot, who evaded them. What he didn´t know was that they directed him under the part of the wall which was damaged.

He finally was in the desired location, and when Jonas had to pause again, they sent a missile into the wall above Nicbot. The robot noticed this too late, and a big part of the wall broke out of it and buried him. They now had time to focus on the humans, and Mario and Luigi decided to go for Marius first. He was busy trying to hit the floating couple, and he was getting dangerously close to them.

As the plumbers were about to attack him, the tip of one of his swords touched Starlow. She got weakened, which allowed the human to hit her again. The Star Sprite fell to the ground, unconscious. Marius kicked her across the room, and before Mario and Luigi were able to surprise him, a red ball landed in front of them. It started beeping.

Realizing what this object was, they jumped backwards. Marius turned around towards them, alarmed by the explosion the grenade caused a few seconds later. Mario and Luigi looked around. They were between the two humans. Marius dashed forward, and Jonas threw a white grenade in front of the plumbers. It created a bright flash, which blinded them.

"Guys! Roll to the side!" Dreambert shouted, who was left alone by everyone.

Luigi managed to perform a roll sideways before Marius could hit him, but his brother was not that lucky. After three hits from Marius swords, Mario was defeated as well. Luigi hurried over to Dreambert, who had no 1-Up Mushrooms left in his inventory.

"We need to play our trump card," Dreambert told him.

Luigi nodded and took out the Miracle Cure. He sent it into the air, and it flew above Starlow. After a few seconds of circling above her, she woke up again. The same thing happened with Mario, and the two were up and ready to fight again. Marius and Jonas knew that their weapons weren´t strong enough to destroy the Miracle Cure, they would need either Nico or Nicbot for that.

"You took the Miracle Cure with you? Well, looks like this fight won´t be that easy after all," Jonas said.

"We aren´t stupid, I´ll let you know," Starlow replied.

She and Dreambert then stunned Marius with a love beam, allowing Mario and Luigi to go for an attack on Jonas. The human saw the danger and started shooting at the couple, but they managed to fly to the side and hide behind Marius. Jonas took his own energy blade out and defended himself against the attacks from the plumbers, but he soon had to back up.

After a short fight, they managed to hit his blade out of his hand. They then started hammering him until he eventually passed out. Mario and Luigi wanted to take down Marius as well, when suddenly the pile Nicbot was buried under exploded. He had freed himself after he recovered from the impact. He noticed the Miracle Cure flying next to Starlow and Dreambert, as well as the unconscious Jonas lying next to the plumbers.

They on the other hand noticed that one of the shields around the robot was gone. They just had to defeat Marius, and then they could deal with him.

"The Miracle Cure? Do you want me to destroy that thing again? If you expect this to be easy, you´re wrong," he said, and his left launcher transformed into a hand again. He pointed it at Jonas, and the hand revealed a new type of gun. It fired out a consistent green beam, which revived the fallen human. As soon as he was up again, his Jetback generated a new shield around the robot.

"Wow, really? Do you know how long it took us to defeat him?" Mario asked the robot, angered.

"Too long," Nicbot replied.

Jonas looked confused, as if he didn´t know what he was doing here. Suddenly, his Jetback placed a helmet on his head. Wires connected it to the Jetback, and the helmet started to glow orange. After it stopped glowing, he looked at them angrily and picked up his weapons. Starlow realized what happened.

"Marius and Jonas are under mind-control as well? What sort of "friend" is Nico?!" she yelled at Nicbot.

"Let me give you this much of information: they didn´t like his plans, but Nico needed help. So he simply put them under permanent mind-control. If they are defeated, the Jetbacks will initiate the control once they wake up again," he explained.

This fight could go on like this forever, and the more time they wasted down here, the more time Nico had for his plan. They needed to defeat them, and they had to do it soon. Suddenly, Starlow heard a quiet voice in her mind.

"The Miracle Cure…against the humans…with Dreambert…" it whispered. She thought she knew this voice, but that couldn´t be. Why would he do that? And how would he be able to do something like that? Using the Miracle Cure against them didn´t sound like a bad idea, however.

"Mario! Luigi! We need you to distract them for a while," she told the brothers.

They nodded, and used a Magic Window. The enemies were not able to keep track of them and had to evade the brothers' jumps, which allowed Starlow to quickly explain Dreambert what they had to do. They fired a love beam at the Miracle Cure, and it formed into a heart again. They then directed two beams from it onto the two humans. The beam was strong enough to knock them out in a few seconds. Nicbot suddenly stood alone against the four, and the shields around him disappeared. Mario and Luigi jumped out of the Magic Window next to the couple.

"Oh…well, dammit. The revive beam is still on cooldown…can we call this a draw?" he asked them as he realized in how much trouble he was now.

Mario and Luigi took their hammers out, and Starlow and Dreambert got ready to fire another beam.

"What do you think is our answer?" Dreambert asked with a smug smile.

"Fine. I won´t make it easy, though," he said, and flew up into the air again. He transformed his hand into his blade and dove at them while firing missiles. He sent a message to Nico, and hoped that he would arrive soon enough.

* * *

It couldn´t seriously take them that long to win against them. Something must have happened. He became nervous again. A message appeared on his desktop. When he saw who it was from, he quickly read it.

"They have the Miracle Cure! Marius and Jonas are defeated, and I can´t win against them. Help! Or at least get rid of the Miracle Cure. Thank you for creating me, Nico. You will be successful. Destroy them."

Nico was shocked from what he read. They had the Miracle Cure with them? Why hasn´t he thought about that possibility? If he was fast enough, he might be able to save his robot. Nico started running, out of his house and to the top of the tower. He jumped through the hole in the grid and dove downwards. He couldn´t be too late.

Nicbot fought the Mario Bros. with his sword, while he fired missiles at either them or Starlow and Dreambert. He was able to keep up with the brothers, but the other two would eventually be able to strike, and then he would be done. When he tried to fire at Luigi, the plumber clogged his launcher with his hammer. The launcher was of no use anymore, and Starlow and Dreambert hit him with their beam.

He couldn´t move anymore, and Mario started hammering him. The combined power of them caused damage to the robot´s interiors, and soon the damage reached critical levels. His automated emergency survival system kicked in. His system started to shut down, so he could repair himself within a few days. At least so far that Nico could work on him without risking a complete system-breakdown.

"Emergency…system…shut…down" was the last thing the robot said, before his eyes turned blank. He then fell over, which left Nico alone to carry out his plan.

The human was close now, and his Jetback started the thrusters so he wouldn´t crash into the ground. He had to take away their advantage, or he was toast as well. He created four light blue spheres and threw them at the four heroes.

* * *

Luigi heard something. Thrusters. Above them. He looked up, and saw Nico quickly closing in, as well as four spheres heading towards them.

"Above us! Run!" he shouted at his friends. They looked up as well and saw the threat. They ran away from the location they were standing at, but they didn´t have time to grab the Miracle Cure. Nico swooped down and grabbed it, just to fly to the top of the tower again with it.

"Dammit! He has the Miracle Cure," Starlow angrily said as they watched Nico disappearing through the grid.

"Looks like we have to beat him without it," Mario said.

"Ugh…my head…" they heard someone behind them mumble.

They turned around, and saw Marius slowly waking up again. They ran towards him, and before his Jetback could brainwash him again, they took it from his back. Luigi did the same to Jonas, but he wasn´t awake yet.

"Am I…free from that thing?" he asked the heroes.

"Yes, you finally are. Why did Nico do all of this?" Dreambert wanted to know.

"Hm…he had a difficult past, back at school. He has always been the target of almost everyone, and he started to hate everyone besides us and his family. I don´t exactly know what happened to him, but his hate has turned him into what he is now. However…I believe in it…there is good left in him…save him…from himself. Save everyone in this kingdom. If someone can stop him, it´s you…" he told them, before he passed out again.

"So now we know a bit more about him. But how should be bring him back to being good again?" Mario asked the others.

"I don´t know. For the first part, we need to stop him, and I guess that will include defeating him in combat," Starlow answered.

"Should we just leave them here? We have seriously beaten them up," Dreambert asked.

"We´ll leave some Syrup for them, that should be enough. They´re tough, so I guess all they need is rest," Luigi replied.

They placed Syrup Jars in front of the humans, and then looked up towards the top of the tower. They had one final task to complete. They refilled their stats, and Mario and Luigi then grabbed hold on Starlow.

"Are you ready for the final battle?" Starlow asked everyone.

"Yes! Let´s save everybody from Nico!" they replied.

Starlow flew up, Dreambert next to her. The upcoming fight was the most important one. It would decide the fate of this kingdom, if not everyone in the world. If they couldn´t stop Nico now, who else? They were ready, and so was Nico. Everyone knew: everything would end up here.

* * *

 **Final battle up ahead! Nico vs. Mario, Luigi, Starlow and Dreambert. The only hope the kingdom has against their most dangerous foe yet.**

 **We will see how this goes in the next chapter. I´ll start writing tomorrow, so hopefully I can bring that one out at Saturday or Sunday.**

 **Until then: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	13. Love and hate

**Here we are! The ultimate battle of a powerful teenager against two plumbers, a Star Sprite and a Pi'illo. This battle will take turns you didn´t expect to happen. I´ll add an Epilogue after this chapter, where the story ends and background information is brought to you. As well as a hint to why there can be a sequel.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

They landed on the upper platform of the tower. In the distance, they could see Nico standing on the platform where the final battle against the Dark Star (and Bowser) had taken place. Mario and Luigi let go of Starlow, and she floated next to them again.

"Do you know what´s weird? During the battle against the three guys down there, I thought I heard Nico´s voice giving me a hint," Starlow told everyone.

"I heard his voice as well. It sounded very weak, back when we disabled his robots," Mario said.

"There is something we don´t know yet. We should probably go and defeat him for now, maybe we can get some information from him later," she suggested.

Everyone nodded, and they walked towards the platform where their enemy waited. He held the Miracle Cure in his right hand. At the edge of the platform stood a machine with a giant antenna, and cables connected it with the basement of the castle. As soon as they reached the location, Nico threw the Miracle Cure from the platform. They couldn´t do anything but watch it falling down towards Toad Town.

"So this is how it is. Looks like a final battle between me and you was inevitable. So be it," the human started.

"What is your plan, Nico? I don´t really see anything that would change anything," Dreambert wanted to know.

"You want to hear about my plan? It is quite simple: This machine over there can send out impulses that will brainwash everyone in this whole kingdom. The only save places are here and not in the Mushroom Kingdom. And once I have taken control over this kingdom, I will fly this castle to the next kingdom. And I will keep doing this until everyone on this world obeys me," he told them and laughed manically. When they looked into his eyes, they could see insanity in them.

"We won´t let you do that!" Mario shouted at him.

"Get real. You have no chance against me. The lava I´ve pumped into Bowser´s Castle is being converted into energy, thanks to my own thermal energy generators. And these power up my wonderful machine here. It is almost completely charged up, and now I only need to defeat you," he replied with a grin.

"Then why didn´t you get us out of the way back at Bowser´s Castle?" Luigi asked him. Nico´s facial expression darkened for a bit.

"I toyed around with you. But the problem is that I have underestimated you, and now I need to fix this mistake on my own," he replied. He took out a blue metal ball, and it created a shield around his machine, so it wouldn´t get damaged or destroyed during their showdown. He put it into his jacket´s pocket.

"The baddies always loose, Nico. It won´t be different this time," Starlow confidently said.

"You´re right. Because to me, YOU are the baddies. It´s funny, isn´t it? Your last fight of an adventure took place here, and now your last stand takes place here as well," he answered, and created two light blue spheres in his hands.

The four heroes readied up, determined to stop this crazy boy for good. They knew that they were the only hope for everyone on this world. They had to do it, the four of them. Now, they were four for everyone.

"I´m ready for you, you worthless pieces of trash. Face my powers, although you won´t survive long enough to see the full extent of them," he taunted them, and then he engaged them.

He threw the spheres towards the brothers, but instead of dodging them, they hammered them back towards their enemy. Nico was surprised by that, but his Jetback lifted him up. He saw Starlow and Dreambert readying up for a beam attack, so he pointed his left hand at them. They flew to the side, before lightning bolts struck where they had been a second ago.

"You are taking a different approach this time, huh? Don´t get confident, I´ll still win," he said, before activating his own energy blade.

He landed on the ground again, but before he attacked the plumbers, he created two spheres cycling around him. With a grin on his face, he dashed forward. The brothers took their hammers out, ready to fight back. He engaged Mario, and the plumber had to back off every now and then to not get hit by the spheres.

Luigi ran up to Nico and pretended to swing at him, and the human fell for the trick. He tried to block the hit, but Luigi pulled back just before their weapons clashed. Nico was not able to react fast enough, and Luigi hammered his head. The human staggered for a brief moment, allowing Mario to hit him as well. They then hammered him back simultaneously, causing Nico to fly. He flew towards his machine, and when he touched the shield around it, the Jetback on his back got toasted by it.

It was still active, but the thrusters started doing their own thing. The human realized what his Jetback was doing, and he quickly took it off, just before the device launched itself into the air, where the damage it had taken caused the Jetback explode.

"Looks like you have lost one of your toys," Starlow said with a grin.

"Who says that I needed that to defeat you?" Nico replied angrily.

The two spheres were still circling around him, and he added two more of them. They then flew towards the heroes, who hammered two of them back and dodged the other ones. Nico sidestepped out of line of fire. He lifted his hands, and three purple spheres appeared in front of him. He threw them, and the heroes started moving around in order to figure out who wasn´t targeted.

The spheres were locked on everyone except Luigi, who found himself in a melee fight against Nico. His friends were trying to find an opportunity to hit him with his own weapons. Luigi was trying his best to keep the human away, but his close combat skills were equal to the ones of Marius. It was only a matter of time until he would win against the plumber in green.

After a short fight, Nico managed to grab Luigi´s hammer and hit him with the blade. He went down, but as Nico turned around to face the other ones, Mario leapt over him and Starlow and Dreambert narrowly flew past him. What he saw behind them were the three spheres, and they were right in front of him.

The spheres hit him, and a sudden tiredness came over him. Mario hammered him from behind, and he fell to the ground. The only things he felt were pain, confusion and hate. This couldn´t end now. He remembered what he was able to do.

As Mario, Starlow and Dreambert were reviving Luigi with a 1-Up Mushroom, which was their last one, he levitated himself into the air. Maybe he could still turn this around. Luigi woke up, but they were shocked to see him floating above the ground. He reached into his right pocket and pulled out a Max Syrup Jar. He drank it, and felt energy flowing through his body again.

"This isn´t over yet. For me, at least," he said, and created a blue energy ball between his hands.

His knockback beam emerged from it, and they narrowly dodged it. He aimed for the plumbers, and they were lucky to have Starlow with them. As the beam hit them, they were sent flying away. However, the Star Sprite raced after them and reached the brothers. They grabbed hold on her, and she returned them to the platform, where Dreambert had a hard time dodging lightning bolts and spheres.

Starlow flew above Nico, and Mario and Luigi both stomped onto Nico´s head. He stopped hovering and landed on the ground, dizzy from the impact. Starlow and Dreambert finally managed to hit him with a love beam, and it seemed to heavily affect him. He bent over from pain, and the Mario Bros. ran up to him. They took their hammers and spun next to him, inflicting great damage to the human. After a few seconds, they stopped and hammered the back of his head.

Nico fell over, and he felt that he had reached his limits. He was about to pass out, he didn´t even feel the pain anymore. He only felt hate. Hate against these heroes. Nico decided to take a final step. He would defeat them.

The heroes watched the human as he finally passed out. The shield around his machine disappeared. They couldn´t believe that he finally went down after all of this. They were about to celebrate, when they heard a voice. Nico´s voice.

"I´m not done with you. You may have defeated my body, but now I´ll obliterate you," he said.

They looked at his body. He hasn´t spoken, and he still was unconscious. Suddenly, are dark blue light appeared around it. It floated above him, and a figure showed up in it. The light disappeared again, and they now were able to look at the figure.

It was Nico, undeniably, but he was different. It looked like he was a spirit of some sort, a dark blue one. They could partially look through him. He looked at them with hate and confidence in his eyes.

"I never thought that I´d ever have to do that, but you pushed me into doing this. Behold my true form! I am my own soul, and I´ll take you down no matter what. Cackletta was stupid enough to try to defeat you in a physical form. But I will remain incorporeal, which means that you can´t hit me," he told them, and eight light blue spheres appeared around him.

"Where´s my Poltergust when I need it?" Luigi mumbled.

They dodged the spheres he threw at them. Mario and Luigi charged at him, but their hammers went right through him. He laughed, but then Starlow and Dreambert fired a love beam at him. Much to everyone´s surprise, it hit him. He winced from the pain, and found himself immobile. They could see that he slowly became corporeal. The love must have forced him into a physical form.

"What…sort of magic IS that?" he managed to ask.

The plumbers tried again to attack him, and this time he took damage. They kept jumping on him and hammering him, until he regained control over himself again. A black sphere appeared around him, blocking their attacks. Starlow and Dreambert stopped the beam.

The sphere disappeared again, revealing Nico, who turned incorporeal again, with two purple spheres in his hands. He threw them at Starlow and Luigi, who ran away from the projectiles. He then proceeded with sending lightning strikes towards the other two, who dodged them. They couldn´t do that forever, however, so they needed Starlow and Luigi back in the fight soon.

The two used the same trick they used in the first fight against Nico. They narrowly passed each other, causing the spheres to hit each other and explode. They returned to the fight, but before she and Dreambert could shoot Nico again, he sent more light blue spheres and lightning bolts into their direction. If they wanted to damage him again, they had to distract him.

Mario and Luigi ran towards Nico´s machine in order to destroy it, which the human tried to stop. He was busy firing spheres and lightning strikes at them, leaving him vulnerable to another love beam. As soon as he got hit by it, the plumbers turned around to attack him. They used a Star Rocket attack, and he became corporeal as soon as they reached him with the star.

Nico took more damage, and the brothers kept hurting him with stomping and hammering. After he had taken a large amount of damage, he created a shockwave around him. Mario and Luigi got knocked back a bit, and Starlow and Dreambert had to dodge more lightning bolts he sent at them. They could see Nico trembling, he had to be severely hurt by now.

"You…" was all he said, his voice filled with both pain and pure hatred. He became incorporeal again, and he then turned purple. The heroes felt new waves of power coming from him. They saw nothing more than insanity and hate in his eyes. He seriously wanted them dead.

Nico flew up into the air, sending a barrage of spheres towards the heroes, who almost couldn´t dodge this amount of projectiles. What they didn´t see was a purple sphere Nico created behind his back. When they didn´t look at him for a brief moment because they had to keep track of the closest spheres, he mixed it into the storm of other spheres.

Luigi noticed too late that there was a homing one targeting him, and he got hit by it. The green plumber fell into unconsciousness again. The other ones were shocked, because they had no 1-Up Mushrooms left. This allowed Nico to hit Mario with a sphere as well, leaving only Starlow and Dreambert awake.

And they knew that they couldn´t win on their own. They had nobody who could damage Nico while they stunned him. This looked like the end. And Nico knew it as well. By defeating the Mario Bros., he had won against the four of them. They had failed everybody.

Dreambert and Starlow looked at each other, the Star Sprite with tears in her eyes. Nico laughed, creating spheres around him in order to finish them. The couple went for a passionate kiss, knowing it was their last one. But then, something weird happened. Nothing. They looked at Nico, who had stopped laughing and looked at them, realizing what power they had used against him.

"You two…are in love with each other?" he asked in disbelief, before he looked shocked. "No! That power…of your love…it will…"

"Give me power? You are right about that," a new voice said. It sounded like Nico´s voice as well, and Starlow remembered that it sounded exactly like the voice that gave her the hint against Nico´s friends and Nicbot.

Everyone looked at Nico´s body. A new soul was hovering above it, a light green one. It looked like Nico as well, but there was no hate or insanity coming from him. Starlow could feel positive energy coming from this one.

"Finally I am free again. It´s about time that you went down for good, Dark Nico," the new soul said to the purple one. He hovered towards the couple, who backed off. They suspected another trick from Nico behind this.

"Who are you?" Dreambert asked as the soul came closer.

"That´ll take a long time to explain. All you need to know for now are two things: My name´s Light Nico, and I´m on your side. Together, we can defeat that guy. Love is his main weakness," he told them while he pointed at Dark Nico.

"You…expect to defeat me that easily? I´ve come so far…I´ve kept you under control…I shall be stopped by two stupid lovers and the stupid nice part of us?! NEVER!" he cried. He changed from purple to black, his eyes becoming red. They felt enormous power coming from him, pure hate and hate only.

"Hate Nico…he is dangerous. I don´t think your love alone is strong enough to take on this amount of hate. To let you know: he is the definition of hate now, the opposite of love. He hates us more than anything else in existence. If we want to take him down, I´ll need your help," he told the couple.

They looked at each other. They had no choice but to trust Light Nico for now. They nodded.

"All you need to do is power me up. Shoot a love beam at me," he explained. They did so, and the soul started to change as well. Soon, it turned from light green to white. "Introducing to you: Love Nico" he announced.

The other ones just stared at him, the couple astonished, and Hate Nico…hating. None of the souls knew how this fight would end. They both would go all out for the first time since the event in Nico´s past. When Light Nico had lost.

"Starlow, Dreambert and Nico," they both said in unison," time for this to end."

Hate Nico created 20 black spheres around him and threw them at the other ones, but Love Nico created a heart-shaped white shield in front of them. The spheres crashed into it, causing black cracks to appear on it. After the last one hit the shield, Love Nico threw it like a Frisbee into the direction of Hate Nico. He prepared to deflect it, but was interrupted by a love beam from Starlow and Dreambert. The shield hit him directly into his face, sending him flying back a few meters before landing on the ground.

Love Nico created a love blade and charged at the opponent, but Hate Nico created a black wall in front of him. A black lightning bolt hit the white soul, causing it to flinch. The black soul used this to break through the wall with a hate blade, landing a few good hits on Love Nico. Another love beam from the couple gave Love Nico new strength, and he fought back Hate Nico. They clashed for a short amount of time, but they realized that no one had the upper hand in a melee fight.

They disengaged, and Hate Nico summoned an energy ball in his hands. Love Nico did the same, and shortly after that they fired a giant beam at each other. The beams collided with each other, and whoever was stronger would win this fight now. The white beam started to push the black one back, but this just filled the black soul with more hate. His beam became stronger, and Love Nico was about to lose. Just then, Starlow and Dreambert focused on all their love and fired their most powerful love beam yet.

They hit Love Nico, and he felt even more love flowing through him. His beam grew larger, and rapidly pushed back Hate Nico´s one. The black soul couldn´t do anything about it, and the white beam finally hit him. He cried from pain and fell to the ground, still being hit by pure love. Eventually, the hate inside him vanished.

The beam stopped, and white cracks were all over Hate Nico. A black explosion came from the black soul, leaving an unconscious Dark Nico lying on the ground. Love Nico sat down, worn out from the battle. He slowly turned from Love Nico into Light Nico.

"That was…one hell of a fight, you two," he said with a smile and looked at Starlow and Dreambert.

"Could you finally explain to us what in the world just happened?" Dreambert asked the tired soul.

"Of course I´ll do that. But the most important fact is: we have won. Everyone is safe now," Light Nico answered, seemingly relieved.

* * *

 **I know, I know. That came totally out of nowhere, but this was the whole base of my idea. The good part of Nico fighting the bad part, together with Starlow and Dreambert because of their love. Background information and explanations on how that was possible will come with the final chapter. I chose Dark Nico here because he resembles the dark side of the human, while Light Nico is the opposite of that.**

 **Now that I´ve talked about that: Hooray, victory for our heroes! The threat is defeated. Light Nico will explain everything in the next and final chapter, and the story will end there as well. Call these sudden things whatever you want, I like it that way (because I can use this for a sequel).**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the last chapter!**


	14. Epilogue: Happy End, for now

**Strange…I´ve posted two new chapters, but FF gives me an error? The chapters are up, but neither did I receive an E-Mail nor did it "update" on the site, which means that it displays as being updated when I posted Chapter 11. Maybe it has to do with my mobile FF app? Maybe I was able to resolve this, and if not…oh well, what can I do?**

 **Anyways, this is where my story ends. I´ll take a break for now, and then write something new. Maybe a sequel, maybe something else comes to my mind.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Starlow and Dreambert were hovering in front of Light Nico, who was tired from the all-out attack he used.

"Where do you want me to start?" he asked the couple. Starlow thought about it.

"Why are you two souls of Nico?" she finally wanted to know.

"Right. You see, every living has two souls, a dark one and a light one. Most of these two souls are equally strong, creating a 'normal' personality. The mood of this person can change every now and then, but in the end, no soul comes out stronger. However, some people have a soul which is stronger than the other one, creating a personality which leans towards the stronger soul. I can feel that you guys have a naturally strong good one, which supresses the dark one. That is why you have such a good personality. Of course, it can be the other way around as well, like Bowser for example," he explained to them.

"What happened to Nico, then?" Dreambert asked him. The soul sighed.

"Dark Nico and I were equally strong, but events in one´s life can change that. In his past, Nico had been bullied and teased by everyone except Marius and Jonas. The hate he developed against everyone fed Dark Nico, and he soon became stronger than me. All of this hate led Nico to insanity. His family tried to bring him back, but when he realized this, he left them. His friends didn´t agree to his plan, but he still wanted to bring them with him, so he brainwashed them. I decided to stop Dark Nico from what he was doing and challenged him, but I lost that fight, leaving me at minimum power. He supressed me since then, which meant that I couldn´t do anything. Dark Nico then transferred his powers to Nico himself, which is why he became so powerful," he told them.

"Dark Nico supressed you? Why didn´t he destroy you instead?" Starlow asked.

"Because it would have been his end as well. There always has to be a counterpart, otherwise the pure power of only one soul would melt away one´s body, resulting in death and therefor destruction of the remaining soul. A soul is bound to its body. It can leave the body when the person is unconscious, as you saw, but only when the other soul leaves as well. Otherwise, one dies in one hour. The power always needs to be weakened, because a body can´t contain pure power of only one side. This is why he supressed me," Light Nico explained.

"How were you able to regain your power, then?" Dreambert wanted to know.

"A soul can´t be supressed forever. I would have eventually grown strong enough to balance our powers again, but it would have taken a long time. However, I felt your love, the counterpart of hate. It slowly gave me my power back, allowing me to telepathically talk to you. I could only talk shortly and over a short distance, otherwise Dark Nico would have noticed this. When you battled Nico and Dark Nico, your love gave me more power, enough to finally break free from the prison my counterpart had thrown me into," he said.

"Wow…that is…interesting and frightening at once," Starlow said after a short break.

"It is, but now Nico has a problem. He won´t be able to go back because of what he did, especially to his friends. He´ll either need a new community he can live in, or he´ll be forced to live somewhere where nobody can find him. After all he has done, I don´t think that it will be easy to convince everybody into accepting him. Do you know a solution to this?" he asked the couple.

They thought about it. It wasn´t really Nico´s fault that Dark Nico had taken over, and living in loneliness wasn´t the right thing. Dreambert had an idea.

"He could live on Pi'illo Island. Since Dark Nico is dealt with, he can´t inflict any harm on anyone. He isn´t welcome in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore, but I can make sure that he will be able to live an acceptable life," he suggested.

"Hm…that could be the best thing. There is one catch, however. Dark Nico might be out of the way for now, but he´ll eventually try to come back. And I don´t know what will happen then," he warned the two.

"Don´t worry. With our love, we can defeat him again. And if we have to, we can call in the Mario Bros.," Starlow said.

"Speaking of them…we should probably revive them, as well as Nico. There are some 1-Up Mushrooms in the supply closet. I just hope that we will be able to live in peace for some time now…" the soul replied.

Starlow and Dreambert hovered into Nico´s house and found the desired items. They gave Mario and Luigi the Mushrooms, while Light Nico carried Dark Nico to Nico´s body. He placed him next to it, and the dark soul started glowing. It disappeared in a blue light, which moved towards the body.

"Goodbye, you two. I´m pretty sure that we´ll see each other again," Light Nico said, before turning into a green light. Both of them entered the body.

They revived the human as well, while the plumbers woke up. They were confused as they didn´t know what happened, but were alarmed when they saw Nico waking up as well. Starlow and Dreambert hovered in front of him.

"It´s okay, guys. We have a long story to tell you…" Starlow told them, and together they explained what happened.

Nico fully revived at the end of their explanation, severely hurt. He only remembered that he had lost the fight, but he felt…different. No hate anymore, he was able to think straight again.

"Ugh…my head…what in the world happened to me?" he asked the four heroes.

"Well…we defeated you in combat and managed to bring you back on track," Dreambert said.

"Oh…what have I done to you guys? And my friends, my family…everyone. I must have hurt so many people…" he realized, shocked as he remembered what he had done.

"Everything is alright now," Starlow assured him with a calm smile. "We´ll take you with us to Pi'illo Island, and there you can start a new life."

"You´d…do that for me?" he asked them, with tears of happiness in his eyes.

* * *

 **One week later…**

Starlow and Dreambert had returned to Pi'illo Island, together with Nico. He still was traumatized from all the evil he had inflicted on everyone, but they knew that he could come over it. He now lived in the castle, and he started to feel better with every day.

Together, they had helped Mario, Luigi and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom to repair the damage caused by his insanity, and the only things that were still in need of repair were Plack Beach and Toad Town. Everybody was happy that they had achieved a happy end, but six beings knew that this was only a temporary state.

Mario, Luigi, Starlow, Dreambert, Light Nico and Dark Nico knew that it was only a matter of time until the dark soul would be strong enough to start a fight with them again. And only he knew what sort of plan he would have in store then.

A week after their adventure, Nico sat in his room, reading about the history of the Pi'illo population. Someone knocked on his door and entered. He now lived in the room Starlow used to live in before she and Dreambert became a couple. The Star Sprite entered the room, a stack of letters floating next to her.

"More of them?" Nico asked her, afraid of what the population of the Mushroom Kingdom had sent him this time.

"Well… there are none from Mushroom Kingdom this time. They seem to come from the area you used to live in, before all of this happened," she told him.

He took the letters and looked at who sent them. He threw most of them into a trash bin, but three letters caught his attention. They were from Marius, Jonas and…his family? He read the ones from his friends, in which they forgave him for his actions, as well as stating that they missed him. He didn´t feel confident enough to open the other one, though.

"I could go back there, couldn´t I?" he asked nobody in particular, but Starlow decided to answer.

"You could do that, but you need to think about what could happen," Starlow reminded him.

"Yes, I know. And you know what? As much as I miss everyone, I like you guys. And besides that, if I ever turn crazy again, there needs to be someone who stops me," he replied.

"We´ll be there to help you," she assured him.

Nico smiled at her, thankful.

"Thank you, Starlow. You guys are amazing."

* * *

 **Happy end, yay! Nico is able to live a normal life for now, at least until his dark side awakens again…**

 **I´m sad and happy at once that it is over now. Oh well, I guess I´ll need to write something new at some point. Hope you enjoyed this, guys.**

 **Review if you want to, and stay tuned for a new story!**


End file.
